Texas State Senate District 8

Texas State Senate District 8 is represented by Angela Paxton (R).

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

See also: State legislature candidate requirements by state

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

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures

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

See also: Redistricting in Texas after the 2020 census

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 8
until January 9, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Texas State Senate District 8
starting January 10, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Texas State Senate District 8

Incumbent Angela Paxton defeated Rachel Mello in the general election for Texas State Senate District 8 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Angela Paxton (R)	59.4	269,743
	Rachel Mello (D)	40.6	184,642

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 454,385
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Ed Kless (L)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 8

Rachel Mello advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 8 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rachel Mello	100.0	23,078

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 23,078
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 8

Incumbent Angela Paxton advanced from the Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 8 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Angela Paxton	100.0	68,007

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 68,007
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for Texas State Senate District 8

Ed Kless advanced from the Libertarian convention for Texas State Senate District 8 on March 23, 2024.

		Candidate
✔		Ed Kless (L)

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= 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.