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Texas State Senate District 26
Texas State Senate District 26 is represented by José Menéndez (D).
As of the 2020 Census, Texas state senators represented an average of 941,396 residents. After the 2010 Census, each member represented 815,110 residents.
About the office
Members of the Texas State Senate serve four-year terms and are not subject to term limits. Texas legislators assume office at the beginning of the legislative session, which starts at noon on the second Tuesday in January in the year after the election.[1][2]
One-half of the Senate membership is elected every two years in even-numbered years, with the exception that all 31 Senate seats are up for election for the first legislature following the decennial census in order to reflect the newly redrawn districts. After the initial election, the Senate is divided by lot into two classes, with one class having a re-election after two years and the other having a re-election after four years.[3]
Qualifications
To be eligible to serve in the Texas State Senate, a candidate must be:[4]
- A U.S. citizen
- A qualified elector
- 26 years old before the general election
- A five-year resident of Texas before the general election
- A district resident for one year prior to the general election
Salaries
- See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries
| State legislative salaries, 2024[5] | |
|---|---|
| Salary | Per diem |
| $7,200/year | $221/day |
Vacancies
If there is a vacancy in the Texas State Legislature, the governor must call a special election to fill the vacant seat.[6] A governor's proclamation to hold a special election must be delivered to county judges in the legislative district no later than 36 days before the scheduled election.[7]
The secretary of state can declare a candidate duly elected in a special election if there is no opposition.[8]
See sources: Texas Elec. Code § 203.001 et. seq.
District map
Redistricting
- See also: Redistricting in Texas
In Texas, both congressional and state legislative district boundaries are drawn by the Texas State Legislature. These lines are subject to veto by the governor.[9]
If the state legislature is unable to approve a state legislative redistricting plan, a backup commission must draw the lines (the backup commission is not involved in congressional redistricting). This backup commission, established in 1948, comprises the following members:[9]
- Lieutenant governor
- Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives
- Attorney general
- State comptroller
- Commissioner of the General Land Office
The Texas Constitution requires that state legislative districts be contiguous and "that they preserve whole counties when population mandates permit."[9]
2020-2023
Texas renewed its state legislative district boundaries in June 2023 for use in 2024 and until the 2030 census. These districts were the same as those enacted by the state in October 2021. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed HB 1000 — establishing state House district boundaries — on June 12, 2023, and he allowed SB 375 — establishing state Senate district boundaries — to become law without his signature on June 18, 2023.[10][11]
The Texas Tribune's James Barragan wrote in January 2023 that Senate Legislative Redistricting Committee Chairwoman Joan Huffman (R) said the state was re-doing the redistricting process "to ensure that Legislature had met its constitutional requirement to apportion districts in the first regular session after the publishing of the results of the federal census, which is done every 10 years. Because of the pandemic, census numbers were not released until after the end of the last regularly scheduled legislative session on May 31, 2021. Redistricted maps were passed in a subsequent special session that year."[12] Texas had originally enacted new state legislative districts on October 25, 2021.
Below are the maps in effect before and after the 2020 redistricting cycle. The map on the right was in effect for Texas' 2024 state legislative elections.
Texas State Senate District 26
until January 9, 2023
Click a district to compare boundaries.
Texas State Senate District 26
starting January 10, 2023
Click a district to compare boundaries.
Elections
2022
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Texas State Senate District 26
Incumbent José Menéndez defeated Ashton Murray in the general election for Texas State Senate District 26 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | José Menéndez (D) | 66.5 | 140,799 |
| Ashton Murray (R) | 33.5 | 70,773 | ||
| Total votes: 211,572 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 26
Incumbent José Menéndez advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 26 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | José Menéndez | 100.0 | 41,833 |
| Total votes: 41,833 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 26
Ashton Murray advanced from the Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 26 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Ashton Murray | 100.0 | 22,442 | |
| Total votes: 22,442 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2020
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Texas State Senate District 26
Incumbent José Menéndez defeated Julian Villarreal in the general election for Texas State Senate District 26 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | José Menéndez (D) | 80.0 | 199,829 |
 | Julian Villarreal (G) | 20.0 | 50,004 | |
| Total votes: 249,833 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 26
Incumbent José Menéndez advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 26 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | José Menéndez | 100.0 | 67,062 |
| Total votes: 67,062 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Green convention
Green convention for Texas State Senate District 26
Julian Villarreal advanced from the Green convention for Texas State Senate District 26 on April 18, 2020.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Julian Villarreal (G) |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2016
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2016
Elections for the Texas State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election was held on March 1, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was December 14, 2015.[13]
Incumbent José Menéndez defeated Fidel Castillo and Scott Pusich in the Texas State Senate District 26 general election.[14]
| Texas State Senate, District 26 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  José Menéndez Incumbent |
79.87% | 155,441 | |
| Libertarian | Fidel Castillo | 13.69% | 26,639 | |
| Green | Scott Pusich | 6.44% | 12,535 | |
| Total Votes | 194,615 | |||
| Source: Texas Secretary of State | ||||
Incumbent José Menéndez defeated Trey Martinez Fischer in the Texas State Senate District 26 Democratic Primary.[15][16]
| Texas State Senate, District 26 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | José Menéndez Incumbent |
59.21% | 31,055 | |
| Democratic | Trey Martinez Fischer | 40.79% | 21,392 | |
| Total Votes | 52,447 | |||
2015
Trey Martinez Fischer (D), José Menéndez (D), Al Suarez (D), Alma Perez Jackson (R) and Joan Pedrotti (R) faced off in the special election on January 6, 2015.[17] Since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote-getters, Fischer and Menéndez, met in a runoff election on February 17, which Menéndez won.[18][19]
The seat was vacant following Leticia Van de Putte's (D) resignation to run for Mayor of San Antonio.[20]
A special election for the position of Texas State Senate District 26 was called for January 6, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was December 22, 2014.[20]
| Texas State Senate, District 26, Special Runoff Election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | José Menéndez |
59% | 13,891 | |
| Democratic | Trey Martinez Fischer | 41% | 9,635 | |
| Total Votes | 23,526 | |||
| Texas State Senate, District 26, Special Election, 2015 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic | Trey Martinez Fischer |
43.3% | 8,232 | |
| Democratic | José Menéndez |
25.4% | 4,824 | |
| Republican | Alma Perez Jackson | 20.5% | 3,892 | |
| Republican | Joan Pedrotti | 7.5% | 1,427 | |
| Democratic | Al Suarez | 3.4% | 644 | |
| Total Votes | 19,019 | |||
2012
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2012
Elections for the office of Texas State Senate consisted of a primary election on May 29, 2012, and a general election on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Leticia Van de Putte (D) defeated N. Ruben Flores Perez (L), Chris Christal (G), and Deborah Parrish (write-in) in the general election. Van de Putte was unopposed in the Democratic primary election.[21] In 2012, Van de Putte raised $729,485 in campaign contributions. Perez, Christal, and Parrish did not raise any money.[22]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Leticia Van de Putte Incumbent |
80.3% | 141,040 | |
| Libertarian | N. Ruben Flores Perez | 13.1% | 22,989 | |
| Green | Chris Christal | 6% | 10,588 | |
| Independent | Deborah Parrish | 0.6% | 966 | |
| Total Votes | 175,583 | |||
Campaign contributions
From 2000 to 2022, candidates for Texas State Senate District 26 raised a total of $5,151,931. Candidates who raised money in contributions earned $396,302 on average. All figures come from Follow the Money
| Campaign contributions, Texas State Senate District 26 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Amount | Candidates | Average |
| 2022 | $445,508 | 2 | $222,754 |
| 2020 | $950,651 | 1 | $950,651 |
| 2012 | $729,485 | 1 | $729,485 |
| 2010 | $578,226 | 1 | $578,226 |
| 2008 | $602,179 | 1 | $602,179 |
| 2006 | $420,274 | 1 | $420,274 |
| 2004 | $569,365 | 3 | $189,788 |
| 2002 | $359,854 | 1 | $359,854 |
| 2000 | $496,388 | 2 | $248,194 |
| Total | $5,151,931 | 13 | $396,302 |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Texas Government Code, "Title 3., Subtitle A., Sec. 301.001," accessed February 17, 2021
- ↑ Texas Constitution, "Article 3. Legislative Department, Section 4," accessed November 4, 2021
- ↑ Texas State Legislature, "Texas Constitution," accessed December 18, 2013(Referenced Article 3, Section 3)
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Qualifications for All Public Offices," accessed May 23, 2025
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "2024 Legislator Compensation," August 21, 2024
- ↑ Texas Legislature, "Election Code," accessed February 16, 2021 (Statute 3.003 (3))
- ↑ Texas Legislature, "Election Code," accessed February 16, 2021 (Statute 3.003 (3)(b)-(c))
- ↑ Texas Legislature, "Election Code," accessed February 16, 2021 (Statute 2.055)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 All About Redistricting, "Texas," accessed May 7, 2015
- ↑ Texas Legislature Online, "Bill: HB 1000," accessed June 21, 2023
- ↑ Texas Legislature Online, "Bill: SB 375," accessed June 21, 2023
- ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Texas Senate votes to take up redistricting again," January 11, 2023
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Important 2016 Election Dates," accessed December 14, 2015
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2016 General Election," accessed December 2, 2016
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2016 March Primary Election Candidate Filings by County," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current Election History results," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Official candidate list," accessed December 25, 2014
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "Three Elections, No Winners Yet," January 6, 2015
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Official election results," accessed February 25, 2015
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Houston Chronicle, "Perry sets 3 special elections for Jan. 6," December 15, 2014
- ↑ Office of the Secretary of State, "State of Texas 2012 General Election," November 6, 2012
- ↑ followthemoney.org, "State of Texas 2012 Senate Candidates," accessed November 27, 2013
