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Texas state legislative special elections, 2018

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In 2018, five special elections were called to fill vacant seats in the Texas State Legislature. Click here to read more about the special elections.

Senate special elections called:

House special elections called:

How vacancies are filled in Texas

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.[1] 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.[2]

The secretary of state can declare a candidate duly elected in a special election if there is no opposition.[3]

DocumentIcon.jpg See sources: Texas Elec. Code § 203.001 et. seq.


About the legislature

The Texas State Senate is the upper chamber of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members. Each member represented an average of 811,147 residents, as of the 2010 Census.[4] After the 2000 Census, each member represented 672,640.[5]

The Texas House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Texas State Legislature. There are 150 members. Each member represented an average of 167,637 residents, as of the 2010 Census.[6] After the 2000 Census, each member represented 139,012.[7]

Partisan breakdown

The boxes below show the partisan composition of both chambers directly before and after the most recent general elections prior to 2017. For the most up-to-date numbers on partisan composition in this legislature, see here (Senate) and here (House).

Texas House of Representatives
Party As of November 7, 2016 After November 8, 2016
     Democratic Party 50 55
     Republican Party 99 95
     Independent 1 0
Total 150 150
Texas State Senate
Party As of November 7, 2016 After November 8, 2016
     Democratic Party 11 11
     Republican Party 20 20
Total 31 31

Special elections


Click [show] to the right of the district name for more information:

May 5, 2018

July 31, 2018

November 6, 2018

December 11, 2018

Special elections throughout the country

See also: State legislative special elections, 2018

In 2018, 99 state legislative special elections were held in 26 states. Between 2011 and 2017, an average of 74 special elections took place each year.

Breakdown of 2018 special elections

In 2018, special elections for state legislative positions were held for the following reasons:

  • 58 due to appointment, election, or the seeking of election to another position
  • 16 due to a retirement
  • 10 due to a resignation related to criminal charges
  • 7 due to a resignation related to allegations of sexual misconduct
  • 5 due to the death of the incumbent
  • 2 due to a resignation to take a private sector job
  • 1 due to an election being rerun

Impact of special elections on partisan composition

The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:

The table below details how many seats changed parties as the result of a special election in 2018. The number on the left reflects how many vacant seats were originally held by each party, while the number on the right shows how many vacant seats each party won in the special elections. In elections between 2011 and 2016, either the Democratic Party or Republican Party saw an average net gain of three seats across the country. In 2017, Democrats had a net gain of 11 seats.

Note: This table reflects information for elections that were held and not the total number of vacant seats.

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2018)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 42 50
     Republican Party 57 49
     Independent 0 0
Total 99 99


Democrats gained 11 seats in 2017 special elections and eight seats in 2018 special elections. The table below details the results of special elections held in 2017 and 2018 cumulatively.

Partisan Change from Special Elections (2017-2018)
Party As of Special Election After Special Election
     Democratic Party 87 106
     Republican Party 110 91
     Independent 0 0
Total 197 197

Flipped seats

In 2018, 16 seats flipped as a result of state legislative special elections. Twelve seats flipped from Republican control to Democratic control. Four seats flipped from Democratic control to Republican control.

In New York, a Democratic candidate running on the Republican ticket won election to Assembly District 142 on April 24. The previous incumbent in that district was a Democrat. Due to the winning candidate's party affiliation, Assembly District 142 was not added to the list of flipped seats in 2018.

Seats flipped from R to D

Seats flipped from D to R


See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Texas Legislature, "Election Code," accessed February 16, 2021 (Statute 3.003 (3))
  2. ↑ Texas Legislature, "Election Code," accessed February 16, 2021 (Statute 3.003 (3)(b)-(c))
  3. ↑ Texas Legislature, "Election Code," accessed February 16, 2021 (Statute 2.055)
  4. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "Population Distribution and Change: 2000 to 2010," accessed May 15, 2014
  5. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "States Ranked by Population: 2000," April 2, 2001
  6. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "Population Distribution and Change: 2000 to 2010," accessed May 15, 2014
  7. ↑ U.S. Census Bureau, "States Ranked by Population: 2000," April 2, 2001
  8. ↑ Office of the Texas Governor, "Governor Abbott Sets Date For Special Election In HD 13," February 16, 2018
  9. ↑ The Seattle Times, "Special election May 5 to fill Schubert’s Texas House seat," February 16, 2018
  10. ↑ Vote Texas, "Candidates for State Representative, District 13 Special Election," accessed March 21, 2018
  11. ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2018 Special Election House District 13," May 5, 2018
  12. ↑ Twitter "Patrick Svitek," May 23, 2018
  13. ↑ Chron, "Governor announces July special election for empty San Antonio state senator seat," June 20, 2018
  14. ↑ News4sa.com, "State senator Carlos Uresti resigns," June 18, 2018
  15. ↑ Bexar County, "Sample Ballot - Special State Senate, District 19 Election," accessed July 20, 2018
  16. ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2018 Special Election, Senate District 19 Election Night Returns," July 31, 2018
  17. ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2018 Special Runoff Election, Senate District 19 Election Night Returns," September 18, 2018
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 The Texas Tribune, "Gov. Abbott sets Nov. 6 special election to replace former state Rep. Larry Gonzales," July 2, 2018 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "tribune" defined multiple times with different content
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 The Texas Tribune, "Republican set to replace ex-state Rep. Larry Phillips after drawing no special election opponents," August 23, 2018
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Houston Public Media, "UPDATE: Governor Abbott Calls Special Election To Replace Sylvia Garcia In Texas State Senate," November 9, 2018
  21. ↑ The general election was cancelled after Wayne McMahen (R) was the only candidate to file for election.
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