The 2018 Texas Senate elections took place as part of the biennialUnited States elections. Texas voters elected state senators in 15 of the state senate's 31 districts. The winners of this election served in the 86th Texas Legislature. State senators serve four-year terms in the Texas State Senate. A statewide map of Texas's state Senate districts can be obtained from the Texas Legislative Council here, and individual district maps can be obtained from the U.S. Census here.
A primary election on March 6, 2018, determined which candidates appeared on the November 6 general election ballot. Primary election results can be obtained from the Texas Secretary of State's website.[1]
Following the 2016 elections, Republicans maintained control of the Senate with 20 members. However, they gained an extra seat by flipping the 19th District in a September special election, giving them a 21-seat supermajority.[2]
To claim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats would have needed to net six Senate seats. The Democratic Party gained two seats, leaving the Republicans with a 19 to 12 majority in the chamber. Republicans maintained their supermajority, however, due to a 2015 rule change that reduced the effective vote threshold to pass legislation from 21 to 19.[3]
District 19: Pete Flores defeated Pete Gallego in a preceding special election on September 18, 2018, to flip this seat. The seat was vacated by Carlos Uresti, who resigned after multiple convictions on fraud and laundering charges.
Incumbent Republican Bob Hall ran for re-election. Hall, a member of the Tea Party movement, was challenged in the Republican primary by state representative Cindy Burkett, who ran as a moderate alternative to Hall.[6] Hall narrowly defeated Burkett in the primary and went on to defeat Democrat Kendall Scudder in the general election by a wide margin.[7]
Incumbent Republican Van Taylor retired to run for Texas's 3rd congressional district, which was being vacated by incumbent Republican Sam Johnson.[8] Prior to Taylor's retirement announcement, businessman Phillip Huffines, the brother of senator Don Huffines, announced his bid for the seat on the assumption that Taylor would run for the House. Educator Angela Paxton, the wife of attorney generalKen Paxton, later joined the race. Both candidates ran highly negative campaigns, spending millions of dollars on advertisements on what would become the most expensive senate primaries in state history.[9][10] Paxton won the Republican primary while Mark Pharris, a plaintiff in the lawsuit to overturn Texas's ban on same-sex marriage, won the Democratic primary.[11] Paxton won the general election in the heavily Republican Collin County district.[12] This was the closest senate election in the state during the 2018 elections.
Incumbent Republican Konni Burton ran for re-election. She was initially elected in 2014, flipping the seat after incumbent Democrat Wendy Davis retired to run for governor. Democrats Allison Campolo and Beverly Powell ran in the Democratic primary to challenge Burton, with Campolo running from the progressive wing of the Democratic party while Powell ran from the moderate wing of the party.[13] Powell advanced to the general election, which saw large spending from conservative groups such as Empower Texans to defend Burton's seat.[14] Powell narrowly defeated Burton in the general election, flipping the seat back to the Democrats.[15][16]
Incumbent Republican Don Huffines ran for re-election. Despite Republicans having held the 16th district for over 30 years, Huffines was seen as vulnerable due to the district's shifting demographics and Huffines' ultraconservative voting record. The district had voted for Hillary Clinton by 5 percentage points in 2016.[17][18]Nathan Johnson, the Democratic nominee, defeated Huffines in the general election.[15]
Incumbent Republican Joan Huffman ran for re-election. Although she was considered potentially vulnerable due to Donald Trump's narrow victory in the district in 2016, she defeated Democrat Rita Lucido in the general election by 5 percentage points.[3][19]
Incumbent Democrat Carlos Uresti resigned after multiple convictions on fraud and laundering charges.[20] Former U.S. RepresentativePete Gallego and Texas House representative Roland Gutierrez ran as Democrats against Republican Pete Flores in the special election. Flores placed first in the election, a boon to Republicans in the Democratic-leaning district, but he failed to win a majority of the vote, forcing him into a runoff with Gallego.[21] Despite stirrings of an upcoming Democratic wave election, Flores defeated Gallego in the runoff on September 18, 2018, to flip this seat, giving Republicans a supermajority of 21 seats in the Senate.[2]
Incumbent Craig Estes, considered a centrist Republican, faced conservative state representative Pat Fallon in a primary race.[24][25] As the primary election approached, both campaigns grew increasingly combinative, including spars over an ad by Estes' campaign featuring Fallon in a Catholicconfessional.[26] Polling on behalf of Fallon paid for by lieutenant governorDan Patrick suggested that Patrick supported Fallon's primary challenge, although he made no official endorsement.[27] Fallon defeated Estes in the primary by a wide margin and went on to win the general election by an even larger margin.[28]
Incumbent Republican Kel Seliger ran for re-election. Seliger was considered vulnerable to a primary challenge due to his refusal to back many conservative bills during previous sessions. He narrowly won his primary in 2014, voted against a 20-week abortion ban, opposed school voucher legislation, and refused to endorse lieutenant governorDan Patrick's re-election campaign. He drew two primary challengers, including Mike Canon, whom Seliger had narrowly defeated in 2014 and had the support of conservative groups such as Empower Texans.[29][30][31] Seliger won the primary, narrowly avoiding a runoff.[32] He faced nominal third-party opposition in the general election and easily won.
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