Dick Armey - U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. House of Representatives

Armey was first elected to the House in 1984 in the 26th District of Texas, defeating freshman congressman Tom Vandergriff in what is still considered a huge upset (Vandergriff is well known in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, most notably for bringing Major League Baseball's Texas Rangers to the area). Armey was one of six freshmen Republican Party congressmen elected from Texas in 1984 that were known as the Texas Six Pack. Due to the increasingly Republican tilt of the Metroplex, Armey would never face another tough race and was reelected eight times. In his early years in Congress, Armey was influenced by libertarian Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises.