Republicans keep majority in Texas Senate, Democrats likely to take Texas House

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(The Center Square) – The blue tsunami that swept through Texas Tuesday night impacted the state legislature but not to the extent that it did in the executive and judicial branches. 

Republicans have kept the majority in the Texas Senate but Democrats are expected to win the majority in the Texas House based on called races, with some races remain too close to call.

All incumbent Republicans in the executive and judicial branches running for reelection lost their races, from the governor, leaders of state agencies to the highest appellate courts, The Center Square reported. 

There are 181 members in the Texas legislature, 150 in the Texas House and 31 in the Texas Senate. The legislature convenes every two years. 

State representatives are elected every two years. State senators are elected every four years. Sixteen state Senate seats and all 150 state House seats were on the ballot.

In the Texas Senate, incumbent Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick was ousted by Democrat state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, who will lead the Texas Senate in January. 

Of the 16 seats on the ballot, eight incumbent Republicans (SD 1, 2, 4, 5, 18, 21, 28, 31) and five Democrat incumbents won their races (SD 9, 13, 19, 21, 26), according to unofficial results. 

In SD 9, incumbent Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped the seat blue after having won a special election earlier this year. The seat was a previous Republican stronghold, vacated by former Republican state Sen. Kelly Hancock who chose not to run for reelection. 

The SD 9 Republican loss is seen by political analysts as an indictment on Patrick, who backed Rehmet’s Republican challenger, and on the former Tarrant County GOP chair Bo French. Both Patrick and French were criticized for being out of touch with county voters and for failing to unite Republicans. They were also cited as reasons by Republicans as to why they voted for Democrats.  

Republicans won all three open state Senate seats in SD 3, 11 and 22.

Prior to the election, Republicans held a majority of 18-13, including Rehmet’s seat. After the election, Republicans kept their majority but will be led by a Democrat.

In the Texas House, Republicans currently hold a majority, 88-62. After Tuesday night, this spread is expected to reverse; 75 seats are needed for a majority. Democrats could win 86 seats.

Going into the election, Democrats hoped to flip roughly a dozen seats. They appear to have surpassed that goal by nearly double.  

Incumbent Republicans and incumbent Democrats each won 53 races, including House Speaker Dustin Burrows. Burrows reported a record fundraising haul and led a statewide campaign in support of House Republicans, The Center Square reported. 

In 26 open races, 11 Republicans and 14 Democrats won. One open race in HD 126 is 50-50 and too close to call. 

No incumbent House Democrats lost; 13 incumbent House Republicans did. 

Incumbent Republicans lost their races in House Districts 28, 34, 52, 63, 80, 89, 97, 112, 121, 127, 132, 138 and 150, according to unofficial results. The majority were in historically safe conservative districts held by Republicans for years.

Notable losses include Candy Noble in HD 89, who filed the House bill to require the Ten Commandments to be posted in public school classrooms. She made headlines for not being able to answer basic Bible verse questions, referring to Google for her answers, in response to questions asked by then Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, The Center Square reported.

Talarico won the U.S. Senate race, flipping the seat that Republicans held for decades. The last Democrat elected to that seat was Lyndon B. Johnson, The Center Square reported.

Other notable losses include Don McLaughlin, the former mayor of Uvalde, in HD 80, John McQueeny in HD 97, who was among the many Republicans who lost in Tarrant County, the last large Republican county that flipped blue. 

Five races are too close to call. 

In each race, conservative incumbent Republicans are tied with their Democratic challengers 49-49 or 50-50. They include Republicans Paul Dyson in HD 14, Matt Morgan in HD 26, Hillary Hickland in HD 55, Keresa Richardson in HD 61 and Jeff Leach in HD 67.