Of the nation’s 435 congressional districts, no seat backed Mitt Romney by a greater margin than Texas’ 13th. This seat supported 2012's GOP presidential nominee 80-19; Romney’s second-best seat, the nearby 11th District, voted for him by a similar 79-20 margin.

Texas’ 13th Congressional District

The 13th is based in the Texas Panhandle and is dominated by Amarillo and Wichita Falls. About a quarter of the population lives in Amarillo, which once called itself the “Helium Capital of the World” because most of the world’s helium supply was located in the area. Meanwhile, Wichita Falls is home to the four-story Newby-McMahon Building, known as the “world's littlest skyscraper," the results of a con by an oilman named J.D. McMahon.

In 1912 the city was growing fast and dreamed of adding a major building to its skyline and turned to McMahon, who drew up plans for a grand building that was mostly on property he didn’t have permission to build on. According to legend, McMahon’s blueprints were drafted in inches instead of feet, but supposedly no one realized until it was too late. Investors sued in 1919 once they saw the finals results, but the judge told them that since they’d reviewed the architectural drawings, they should have known what they were getting—which, in the end, turned out to be the world's littlest skyscraper.

While Democrats hope that Texas will become more competitive once Latinos begin to register and vote in larger numbers, this part of the state is likely to stay red for a very long time. Non-Hispanic whites make up 65 percent of the population, and in rural Texas, these white voters are extremely reliable Republicans.

GOP Rep. Mac Thornberry has represented this area since his win in the 1994 “Gingrich revolution.” Thornberry, a former congressional staffer and attorney, challenged three-term Rep. Bill Sarpalius that year. Sarpalius faced a challenging environment running as a Democrat in a conservative seat at a time when President Bill Clinton was unpopular. It also didn’t help that Sarpalius earned some unfavorable news stories for speaking at a company’s convention after the firm helped him move to Washington. Thornberry won his primary with little opposition and unseated Sarpalius 55-45.

Thornberry hasn’t faced any serious opposition in either the primary or the general since 1994. The congressman has been a pretty low-key House member, though he heads the influential House Armed Services committee. This seat is likely his until he retires … when it’ll be taken over by another Republican.

“The Most District” is an ongoing series devoted to highlighting congressional district superlatives around the nation. Click here for all posts in this series.