1996Flipped from DemocraticFinal resultsSpecial election
1996 special election for Texas's 5th District
U.S. House · Texas
Pete Sessions (R) won with 53.1% of the vote, defeating John Pouland (D) by 6.1 points, flipping a seat Democrats held.
Pete SessionsRepublican · winner
53.1%80,196
John PoulandDemocrat
46.9%70,922
151,119 votes
Source: MIT Election Data and Science LabUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:25 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1996
Races before and after
Source: Past results: 99chambers results archive (MEDSL, Klarner, state election offices)
Money in this race
Each line compares the two campaigns on one scale.
John PoulandPete Sessions
$602.9K
Raised by the campaign
$1M
$602.9K
Spent by the campaign
$1M
$0
Cash on hand
$9.1K
Campaign money: FEC, through Dec 31, 1996.
Source: FEC campaign filingsUpdated Dec 31, 1996