Pardon Our Dust
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Overview
Despite speculation of Texas turning purple beneath the shroud of the contentious presidential race, the Lone Star State remains stalwart red after the 2016 general election. President-elect Donald J. Trump won Texas with 52 percent of the vote to Hillary Clinton’s 44 percent, the smallest margin of victory for a GOP presidential candidate in Texas in two decades. Republicans swept every statewide election, and the Texas Senate and House remain overwhelmingly conservative. The lone competitive congressional race was won by an incumbent Republican, despite talk that a rematch with a Democratic predecessor might produce an upset for the GOP.
U.S. Congress
In the only competitive congressional race in Texas, U.S. Representative Will Hurd narrowly defeated Democratic challenger Pete Gallego in a rematch from the 2014 general election in which Hurd unseated Gallego for Congressional District 23. All incumbents on the ballot won re-election, bringing the total count to 25 Republicans and 11 Democrats. The partisan split in 2017 will remain the same. There will be two new members in the Texas congressional delegation:
- Vicente Gonzalez (D-McAllen), replacing Ruben Hinojosa (District 15)
- Jodey Arrington (R-Lubbock), replacing Randy Neugebauer (District 19)
Statewide Races
After electing a full slate of new statewide officials in 2014, Texas voters had only a handful of officials to elect in 2016. Republican Wayne Christian was easily elected to fill an open seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, despite challengers from the Democratic, Libertarian and Green parties. Republicans also won all of the judicial races on the statewide ballot — Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals — upsetting the only Democrat incumbent in statewide office.
State Legislature
The Texas Senate and Texas House both remain solidly Republican. Of the 31 Senate seats, 20 will be held by Republicans, including three new members. Twelve senators each have one session or less of experience.
All 150 members of the Texas House were up for election in 2016. Only 47 incumbents had general election opposition, while 83 incumbents had no major party opposition. Democrats gained four seats in the House, though Republicans are still in the vast majority with 95 of the 150 seats. The House will consist of 26 new members and seven open committee chairmanships. House Speaker Joe Straus, a Republican from San Antonio, is favored to remain speaker.
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New Members |
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House |
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4th District: Lance Gooden (R) 5th District: Cole Hefner (R) 7th District: Jay Dean (R) 18th District: Ernest Bailes (R) 33rd District: Justin Holland (R) 49th District: Gina Hinojosa (D) 54th District: Scott Cosper (R) 60th District: Mike Lang (R) 64th District: Dr. Lynn Stucky (R) 71st District: Stan Lambert (R) 73rd District: Kyle Biedermann (R) |
77th District: Lina Ortega (D) 107th District: Victoria Neave (D) 116th District: Diana Arevalo (D) 117th District: Philip Cortez (D) 118th District: Tomas Uresti (D) 120th District: Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (D) 126th District: Kevin Roberts (R) 128th District: Briscoe Cain (R) 130th District: Dr. Tom Oliverson (R) 139th District: Jarvis Johnson (D) 144th District: Mary Ann Perez (D) 146th District: Shawn Thierry (D) 150th District: Valoree Swanson (R) |
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Senate |
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1st District: Bryan Hughes (R) 13th District: Borris Miles (D) 24th District: Dr. Dawn Buckingham (R) |
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Outgoing Members |
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House |
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4th District: Stuart Spitzer (R) 5th District: Bryan Hughes (R) 7th District: David Simpson (R) 18th District: John Otto (R) 33rd District: Scott Turner (R) 49th District: Elliott Naishtat (D) 54th District: Jimmie Don Aycock (R) 60th District: Jim Keffer (R) 64th District: Myra Crownover (R) 71st District: Susan King (R) 73rd District: Doug Miller (R) |
77th District: Marisa Marquez (D) 107th District: Kenneth Sheets (R) 116th District: Trey Martinez Fischer (D) 117th District: Rick Galindo (R) 118th District: John Lujan (R) 120th District: Ruth Jones McClendon (D) 126th District: Patricia Harless (R) 128th District: Wayne Smith (R) 130th District: Allen Fletcher (R) 139th District: Sylvester Turner (D) 144th District: Gilbert Pena (R) 146th District: Borris Miles (D) 150th District: Debbie Riddle (R) |
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Senate |
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1st District: Kevin Eltife (R) 13th District: Rodney Ellis (D) 24th District: Troy Fraser (R) |
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For additional information, please contact a member of McGuireWoods Consulting’s Texas State Government Relations Group.
Holly Deshields, Senior Vice President
Mark Miner, Senior Vice President
Luis Saenz, Senior Advisor
Jennifer Shelley Rodriguez, Vice President
Kwame Walker, Vice President
Amber Hausenfluck, Vice President
Cait Meisenheimer, Assistant Vice President
Jessica Follett, Research Assistant