Texas state legislative Republican primaries, 2018/Competitiveness

Elections in Texas, 2018

• General election: Nov. 6
• Voter registration deadline: Oct. 9
• Early voting: Oct. 22 - Nov. 2
• Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 7

• Online registration: No
• Same-day registration: No
• Voter ID: Photo ID required
• Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

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Ballotpedia's series on the Texas state legislative Republican primaries
Overview
Page 1: Election night coverage of primary matchups
Page 2: Races to watch in the 2018 primaries
Page 3: Top 10 races in 2018
Page 4: Factional conflict in the 2018 primaries
Page 5: What was at stake in the 2018 primaries?
Page 6: Campaign activity by influencers and satellite organizations
Page 7: Noteworthy events, timeline, and media coverage of the 2018 primaries
Page 8: Competitiveness in the 2018 primaries
Page 9: Campaign finance in the 2018 primaries
Page 10: May 22 primary runoffs
Read as one page →

On this page, you will find:

• An overview of the competitiveness data for the 2018 state legislative Republican primaries
• Data on the competitiveness in Texas state legislative Republican primary elections in 2018
• Data on the competitiveness in Texas state legislative Republican primary elections in 2014 and 2016
• Data on all state legislative Republican primary elections in 2014 and 2016

Overview of 2018 primaries

• Multiple Republicans ran in 41 state House races and seven state Senate races, meaning there was 48 Republican primaries on March 6.

• Of the 48 Republican primaries, 32 occurred in races where a Republican incumbent was running.

• Of the 32 Republican primaries that featured an incumbent, 26 were state House seats and six were state Senate seats.

• Of the 16 open Republican primaries where no incumbent ran, fifteen were state House seats and one was for a state Senate seat.

• There were 49 competitive primaries until Reginald Grant Jr., a primary challenger of state Rep. Dan Huberty (R), was disqualified from running in January 2018.

Texas competitiveness data

This chart shows the trends in Republican primary competitiveness from 2014 to 2018.

2018

After the filing deadline passed on December 11, 2017, there was a clear picture of Republican primary competitiveness for the elections on March 6, 2018. Generally, the competitiveness in 2018 was similar to the levels seen in 2014 and 2016, with about the same number of total primaries and primary challenges against incumbents. The following information is included in the charts below:

• Incumbent primary challenges: The number of incumbents who ran for re-election and faced a primary challenger.
• Incumbent primary challenges (%): The percentage of incumbents who faced primary challenges out of those who ran for re-election.
• Incumbent primary defeats: The number of incumbents who were defeated in their primaries.
• Incumbent primary defeats (%): The percentage of incumbents who were defeated out of those who faced challenges.
• Total Republican primaries: The total number of Republican primaries, counting those in seats held by incumbents of both parties and those that occurred in open seats.
• Total Republican primaries (%): The percentage of races that held Republican primaries out of all seats in the chamber that held elections.

Texas State Legislature Republican primaries, 2018
	Incumbent primary challenges		Incumbent primary defeats		Total Republican primaries
Chamber	Raw number	%	Raw number	%	Raw number	%
House of Representatives	26	31.0 percent	3	7.7 percent	41	28.0 percent
State Senate	6	54.5 percent	1	16.7 percent	7	46.7 percent

2014-2016

These charts show data on competitiveness in Republican primaries in the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas State Senate from 2014 to 2016. When compared to other state legislatures, Texas was ranked 14 in primary competitiveness in 2016 and was ranked 11 in 2014.

Texas House of Representatives Republican primaries, 2014-2016
	Incumbent primary challenges		Incumbent primary defeats		Total Republican primaries
Year	Raw number	%	Raw number	%	Raw number	%
2016	33	37.5 percent	6	18.2 percent	41	27.3 percent
2014	23	27.4 percent	7	30.4 percent	37	24.7 percent

Texas State Senate Republican primaries, 2014-2016
	Incumbent primary challenges		Incumbent primary defeats		Total Republican primaries
Year	Raw number	%	Raw number	%	Raw number	%
2016	0	N/A	0	N/A	2	12.5 percent
2014	5	29.4 percent	2	40.0 percent	7	46.7 percent

National competitiveness data

The charts below contain data on competitiveness in all Republican primaries in state houses and state senates from 2014 to 2016. To see a running count of Republican primary competition in the 2018 elections, click here.

State House Republican primaries, 2014-2016
	Incumbent primary challenges		Incumbent primary defeats		Total Republican primaries
Year	Raw number	%	Raw number	%	Raw number	%
2016	493	22.2 percent	64	13.0 percent	758	16.1 percent
2014	492	22.9 percent	68	13.8 percent	N/A	N/A

State Senate Republican primaries, 2014-2016
	Incumbent primary challenges		Incumbent primary defeats		Total Republican primaries
Year	Raw number	%	Raw number	%	Raw number	%
2016	103	18.3 percent	19	18.4 percent	225	18.6 percent
2014	97	N/A	17	17.5 percent	N/A	N/A

See also

• Texas House of Representatives elections, 2018
• Texas state legislative Democratic primaries, 2018
• Texas State Legislature
• State legislative elections, 2018