2004 Texas Senate election

The 2004 Texas Senate elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Texas voters elected state senators in 15 State Senate districts. All of the seats up for this election were for two-year terms, with senators up for re-election in the 2008 elections. The winners of this election served in the 79th Texas Legislature.

2004 Texas Senate election

← 2002 November 2, 2004 2006 →
15 of the 31 seats in the Texas State Senate 16 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Rep Dem Party Republican Democratic Seats before 19 12 Seats won 19 12 Seat change Popular vote 1,589,684 901,490 Percentage 63.50% 36.01%
Senate results by district      Republican hold      Democratic hold      No election
President Pro Tempore before election Republican Elected President Pro Tempore Republican

Following the 2002 elections, the Republicans maintained effective control of the Senate with nineteen members to the Democrats' twelve.

To claim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats needed to gain four seats. In the end, no seats changed hands.

Background

The Republican Party had held the State Senate since the 1996 elections. In 2002, Republicans gained control of the Texas House of Representatives, giving them unified control of the state's government.^[1] This led to the 2003 Texas redistricting, where Republicans redrew the state's congressional districts which had been implemented by federal courts for the 2002 elections.^[2] During that session, eleven members of the Texas Senate left the state to break quorum in an attempt to prevent the plan from passing.^[3] This strategy eventually failed due to the defection of Senator John Whitmire of Houston.^[4]

Summary of race results

Summary of the November 2, 2004 Texas Senate election results

Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
			No.	%	Before	Up	Won	After	+/–
	Republican	10	1,589,684	63.50	19	9	9	19
	Democratic	9	901,490	36.01	12	6	6	12
	Libertarian	2	11,903	0.48	0	0	0	0
	Write-in	1	160	0.01	0	0	0	0
Total			2,503,243	100.00	31	15	15	31
Source:[5]

Popular vote Republican   63.50% Democratic   36.01% Libertarian   0.48% Write-in   0.01%

Senate seats won Republican   60.00% Democratic   40.00%

Summary of results by State Senate district

District	Democratic		Republican		Others		Total		Result
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
District 4	-	-	176,464	100.00%	-	-	176,464	100.00%	Republican hold
District 6	75,318	91.75%	-	-	6,774	8.25%	82,092	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 9	-	-	143,501	100.00%	-	-	143,501	100.00%	Republican hold
District 10	107,853	40.75%	156,831	59.25%	-	-	264,684	100.00%	Republican hold
District 11	-	-	177,554	100.00%	-	-	177,554	100.00%	Republican hold
District 16	-	-	142,542	100.00%	-	-	142,542	100.00%	Republican hold
District 20	116,723	100.00%	-	-	-	-	116,723	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 21	127,573	100.00%	-	-	-	-	127,573	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 23	150,244	100.00%	-	-	-	-	150,244	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 24	-	-	189,778	100.00%	-	-	189,778	100.00%	Republican hold
District 26	105,625	57.10%	74,070	40.04%	5,295	2.86%	184,990	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 27	89,984	100.00%	-	-	-	-	89,984	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 28	176,588	100.00%	-	-	-	-	176,588	100.00%	Republican hold
District 30	81,614	30.95%	182,057	69.05%	-	-	263,671	100.00%	Republican hold
District 31	46,556	21.47%	170,299	78.53%	-	-	216,855	100.00%	Republican hold
Total	901,490	36.01%	1,589,684	63.50%	12,069	0.48%	2,503,243	100.00%	Source:[6]

Notes

References

1. Halbfinger, David M.; Yardley, Jim (November 7, 2002). "THE 2002 ELECTIONS: THE SOUTH; Vote Solidifies Shift of South To the G.O.P." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
2. McKee, Seth; Teigen, Jeremy; Turgeon, Mathieu (June 2006). "The Partisan Impact of Congressional Redistricting: The Case of Texas, 2001-2003". Social Science Quarterly. 87 (2): 308–317. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2006.2006.00382.x. JSTOR 42956125.
3. Alvarez, Elizabeth Cruce (2004). "Texas Almanac, 2004-2005". The Portal to Texas History. p. 398. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
4. Toobin, Jeffrey (February 26, 2006). "Drawing the Line - Will Tom DeLay's redistricting in Texas cost him his seat?". The New Yorker. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
5. Office of the Secretary of State. "2004 General Election". elections.sos.state.tx.us. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
6. "Office of the Secretary of State Race Summary Report 2010 General Election". elections.sos.state.tx.us. Retrieved December 30, 2021.