Pete Sessions
Pete Sessions, a Republican who represents Texas's 17th congressional district and chaired the House Rules Committee from 2013 to 2019, is seeking reelection in 2026 against Democrat Casey Shepard, an attorney.
2026 Races & Market Forecast
Live TruthIndex™ and prediction market consensus for races contested by Pete Sessions.
- Born
- March 22, 1955
- Birthplace
- Waco, Texas
- Education
- Winston Churchill High School
Southwestern University (1978)
Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Pete Sessions was born in Waco, Texas, on March 22, 1955, to Alice June Lewis and William S. Sessions, who served as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He attended Winston Churchill High School and graduated from Southwestern University in 1978. Sessions then worked at Southwestern Bell for 16 years, rising to become a district manager for marketing in Dallas. The Boy Scouts of America recognized him as a Distinguished Eagle Scout.
Career
After finishing sixth in a 1991 special election for the U.S. House, Sessions left Southwestern Bell in 1993 to run against Democratic representative John Bryant in the 5th district and lost by 2,400 votes.
He then became vice president for public policy at the National Center for Policy Analysis in Dallas. In 1996, when Bryant ran for the Senate, Sessions won the 5th district seat.
Following redistricting after the 2000 census he moved to the newly created 32nd district, and in 2004 he defeated Democratic incumbent Martin Frost there by 54% to 44%.
He chaired the National Republican Congressional Committee during the 2010 election, when his party gained 63 seats, and he chaired the House Rules Committee from 2013 to 2019.
Sessions lost his 2018 reelection bid to Democrat Colin Allred. In October 2019 he announced a run for the 17th district, based in his boyhood home of Waco, led a crowded 12-way Republican primary, defeated healthcare executive Renee Swann in the runoff, and was elected on November 3, 2020.
In October 2023 he unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for Speaker of the House. In the 119th Congress he serves on the Committee on Financial Services and on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, where he chairs the Subcommittee on Government Operations.
2026 race
Sessions is the Republican incumbent in Texas's 17th congressional district, which is anchored in Waco and which he won with 66.4% of the vote in 2024. He was unopposed in the Republican primary, receiving 59,724 votes, after pastor Rob Brown withdrew to run in the 10th district. In the general election on November 3, 2026, he faces Democrat Casey Shepard, an attorney who won the Democratic nomination in a runoff against nonprofit professional Milah Flores.