2020 Texas Senate election

Not to be confused with 2020 United States Senate election in Texas.

The 2020 Texas Senate elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Texas voters elected state senators in 16 of the 31 state senate districts. The winners of this election served in the 87th Texas Legislature. State senators serve four-year terms in the Texas State Senate. Those elected in 2020 will only be elected for two years, however, as part of the 2-4-4 term system. A statewide map of Texas's state Senate districts can be obtained from the Texas Legislative Council.^[1] and individual district maps can be obtained from the U.S. Census.^[2]

2020 Texas Senate election

← 2018 November 3, 2020 2022 →
16 of the 31 seats in the Texas State Senate 16 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Paul Bettencourt José R. Rodríguez Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat 7th district 29th district Last election 19 seats, 50.66% 12 seats, 47.82% Seats before 19 12 Seats won 18 13 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 2,660,120 2,226,640 Percentage 53.28% 44.59%
Results by seat gains Results by vote share      Republican hold      Democratic hold      Democratic gain Republican:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      ≥90% Democratic:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

Following the 2018 state senate elections, Republicans maintained effective control of the Senate with 19 members. To claim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats would have needed to net four Senate seats.

The Democratic Party gained one seat (District 19), leaving the Republicans with an 18 to 13 majority in the chamber. This broke Republican's effective supermajority in the chamber, as legislation typically requires 19 votes, three fifths, to pass the chamber.^[3] At the urging of lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, the senate voted to reduce this threshold to 18, just as he had done to reduce the threshold from 21 to 19 during the 2015 session.^[4]

Retirements

One incumbent did not run for re-election in 2020:

Democrats

1. District 29: José R. Rodríguez: Retiring

Incumbents defeated

In the general election

Republicans

1. District 19: Pete Flores lost to Roland Gutierrez.

Predictions

Despite the state's competitive elections for President and House of Representatives, analysts considered the Texas Senate extremely unlikely to flip control due to the small number of competitive seats up for election in 2020.

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[5]	Likely R	October 21, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball[6]	Safe R	May 7, 2020

Results summary

Summary of the November 3, 2020 Texas Senate election results

Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
			No.	%	Before	Up	Won	After	+/–
	Republican	14	2,660,120	53.28	19	9	8	18	1
	Democratic	15	2,226,640	44.59	12	7	8	13	1
	Libertarian	4	57,147	1.14	0	0	0	0
	Green	1	49,202	0.99	0	0	0	0
Total			4,993,109	100.00	31	16	16	31
Source: Texas Elections Results

Popular vote Republican   53.28% Democratic   44.59% Other   2.13%

Senate seats won Republican   50.00% Democratic   50.00%

Close races

District	Winner	Margin
District 19	Democratic (flip)	3.29%

Summary of results by State Senate District

State Senate District[7]	Incumbent	Party		Elected Senator	Party
1st	Bryan Hughes		Rep	Bryan Hughes		Rep
4th	Brandon Creighton		Rep	Brandon Creighton		Rep
6th	Carol Alvarado		Dem	Carol Alvarado		Dem
11th	Larry Taylor		Rep	Larry Taylor		Rep
12th	Jane Nelson		Rep	Jane Nelson		Rep
13th	Borris Miles		Dem	Borris Miles		Dem
18th	Lois Kolkhorst		Rep	Lois Kolkhorst		Rep
19th	Pete Flores		Rep	Roland Gutierrez		Dem
20th	Juan Hinojosa		Dem	Juan Hinojosa		Dem
21st	Judith Zaffirini		Dem	Judith Zaffirini		Dem
22nd	Brian Birdwell		Rep	Brian Birdwell		Rep
24th	Dawn Buckingham		Rep	Dawn Buckingham		Rep
26th	Jose Menendez		Dem	Jose Menendez		Dem
27th	Eddie Lucio Jr.		Dem	Eddie Lucio Jr.		Dem
28th	Charles Perry		Rep	Charles Perry		Rep
29th	José R. Rodríguez		Dem	Cesar Blanco		Dem

District	Democratic		Republican		Others		Total		Result
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
District 1	87,885	24.74%	267,404	75.26%	-	-	355,289	100.00%	Republican hold
District 4	113,050	30.19%	281,105	67.35%	10,277	2.46%	417,401	100.00%	Republican hold
District 6	137,895	84.05%	-	-	26,166	15.95%	164,061	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 11	148,225	38.10%	231,268	59.45%	9,519	2.45%	389,012	100.00%	Republican hold
District 12	177,610	37.71%	293,399	62.29%	-	-	471,009	100.00%	Republican hold
District 13	200,195	80.47%	48,581	19.53%	-	-	248,776	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 18	144,489	34.21%	277,872	65.79%	-	-	422,289	100.00%	Republican hold
District 19	158,726	49.85%	148,213	46.55%	11,465	3.60%	318,404	100.00%	Democratic gain
District 20	154,311	58.48%	109,563	41.52%	-	-	263,874	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 21	167,672	60.14%	111,142	39.86%	-	-	278,814	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 22	118,538	31.55%	257,208	68.45%	-	-	375,746	100.00%	Republican hold
District 24	115,853	30.46%	264,517	69.54%	-	-	380,370	100.00%	Republican hold
District 26	199,829	79.99%	-	-	50,004	20.01%	249,833	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 27	134,035	64.81%	72,768	35.19%	-	-	206,803	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 28	-	-	248,025	100.00%	-	-	248,025	100.00%	Republican hold
District 29	176,360	67.32%	85,619	32.68%	-	-	261,979	100.00%	Democratic hold
Total	2,234,673	44.24%	2,696,684	53.38%	107,431	2.13%	5,051,685	100.00%	Source:[8]

Detailed results by State Senate District

District 1 • District 4 • District 6 • District 11 • District 12 • District 13 • District 18 • District 19 • District 20 • District 21 • District 22 • District 24 • District 26 • District 27 • District 28 • District 29

District 1

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bryan Hughes (incumbent)	99,356	100.0%
Total votes			99,356	100.0%

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Audrey Spanko	29,162	100.0%
Total votes			29,162	100.0%

General election

Texas's 1st State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bryan Hughes (incumbent)	267,404	75.26%
	Democratic	Audrey Spanko	87,885	24.74%
Total votes			355,289	100.00
	Republican hold

District 4

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brandon Creighton (incumbent)	76,775	100.0%
Total votes			76,775	100.0%

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jay Stittleburg	37,848	100.0%
Total votes			37,848	100.0%

General election

Texas's 4th State Senate District General Election, 2020^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brandon Creighton (incumbent)	281,105	67.35%
	Democratic	Jay Stittleburg	126,019	30.19%
	Libertarian	Cameron Brock	10,277	2.46%
Total votes			417,401	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 6

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carol Alvarado (incumbent)	31,938	100.0%
Total votes			31,938	100.0%

General election

Texas's 6th State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carol Alvarado (incumbent)	137,895	84.05%
	Libertarian	Timothy Duffield	26,166	15.95%
Total votes			164,061	100.00%
	Democratic hold

District 11

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Larry Taylor (incumbent)	63,378	100.0%
Total votes			63,378	100.0%

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Susan Criss	26,155	53.0%
	Democratic	Margarita Ruiz Johnson	23,188	47.0%
Total votes			49,343	100.0%

General election

Texas's 11th State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Larry Taylor (incumbent)	231,268	59.45%
	Democratic	Susan Criss	148,225	38.10%
	Libertarian	Jared Wissel	9,519	2.45%
Total votes			389,012	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 12

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jane Nelson (incumbent)	63,061	100.0%
Total votes			63,061	100.0%

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Shadi Zitoon	32,831	57.5%
	Democratic	Randy Daniels	24,291	42.5%
Total votes			57,122	100.0%

General election

Texas's 12th State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jane Nelson (incumbent)	293,399	62.29%
	Democratic	Shadi Zitoon	177,610	37.71%
Total votes			471,009	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 13

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Borris Miles (incumbent)	36,514	55.4%
	Democratic	Melissa Morris	22,840	34.7%
	Democratic	Richard Andrews	6,525	9.9%
Total votes			65,879	100.0%

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Milinda Morris	5,363	65.0%
	Republican	William Booher	2,884	35.0%
Total votes			8,247	100.0%

General election

Texas's 13th State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Borris Miles (incumbent)	200,195	80.47%
	Republican	Milinda Morris	48,581	19.53%
Total votes			248,776	100.00%
	Democratic hold

District 18

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lois Kolkhorst (incumbent)	98,215	100.0%
Total votes			98,215	100.0%

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael Antalan	41,182	100.0%
Total votes			41,182	100.0%

General election

Texas's 18th State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lois Kolkhorst (incumbent)	277,872	65.79%
	Democratic	Michael Antalan	144,489	34.21%
Total votes			422,361	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 19

2020 Texas's 19th senate district election

← 2018 (special) November 3, 2020 2022 →

Nominee Roland Gutierrez Pete Flores Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 158,726 148,213 Percentage 49.85% 46.55%

County results Gutierrez:      50–60%      60–70% Flores:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

Texas Senator before election Pete Flores Republican Party Elected Texas Senator Roland Gutierrez Democratic Party

Incumbent Republican Pete Flores, who was elected in an upset in a 2018 special election, ran for re-election. He was defeated by Democratic state representative Roland Gutierrez.^[10]

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Pete Flores (incumbent)	35,526	100.0%
Total votes			35,526	100.0%

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Xochil Pena Rodriguez	30,821	43.9%
	Democratic	Roland Gutierrez	26,550	37.8%
	Democratic	Freddy Ramirez	12,808	18.3%
Total votes			70,179	100.0%

Democratic primary runoff

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Roland Gutierrez	16,640	52.7%
	Democratic	Xochil Pena Rodriguez	14,940	47.3%
Total votes			31,580	100.0%

General election

Texas's 19th State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Roland Gutierrez	158,726	49.85%
	Republican	Pete Flores (incumbent)	148,213	46.55%
	Libertarian	Jo-Anne Valvdivia	11,465	3.60%
Total votes			318,404	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican

District 20

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Juan Hinojosa (incumbent)	55,410	100.0%
Total votes			55,410	100.0%

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Judith Cutright	21,246	100.0%
Total votes			21,246	100.0%

General election

Texas's 20th State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Juan Hinojosa (incumbent)	154,311	58.48%
	Republican	Judith Cutright	109,563	41.52%
Total votes			263,874	100.00%
	Democratic hold

District 21

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Judith Zaffirini (incumbent)	70,443	100.0%
Total votes			70,443	100.0%

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Frank Pomeroy	29,774	100.0%
Total votes			29,774	100.0%

General election

Texas's 21st State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Judith Zaffirini (incumbent)	167,672	60.14%
	Republican	Frank Pomeroy	111,142	39.86%
Total votes			278,814	100.00%
	Democratic hold

District 22

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Birdwell (incumbent)	89,609	100.0%
Total votes			89,609	100.0%

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert Vick	36,751	100.0%
Total votes			36,751	100.0%

General election

Texas's 22nd State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brian Birdwell (incumbent)	257,208	68.45%
	Democratic	Robert Vick	118,538	31.55%
Total votes			375,746	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 24

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dawn Buckingham (incumbent)	90,605	100.0%
Total votes			90,605	100.0%

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Clayton Tucker	39,280	100.0%
Total votes			39,280	100.0%

General election

Texas's 24th State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dawn Buckingham (incumbent)	264,517	69.54%
	Democratic	Clayton Tucker	115,853	30.46%
Total votes			380,370	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 26

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jose Menendez (incumbent)	67,062	100.0%
Total votes			67,062	100.0%

General election

Texas's 26th State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jose Menendez (incumbent)	199,829	79.99%
	Green	Julian Villarreal	50,004	20.01%
Total votes			249,833	100.00%
	Democratic hold

District 27

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Eddie Lucio Jr. (incumbent)	31,046	49.8%
	Democratic	Sara Stapleton-Barrera	22,221	35.6%
	Democratic	Ruben Cortez Jr.	9,122	14.6%
Total votes			62,389	100.0%

Democratic primary runoff

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Eddie Lucio Jr. (incumbent)	16,883	53.6%
	Democratic	Sara Stapleton-Barrera	14,625	46.4%
Total votes			31,508	100.0%

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Vanessa Tijerina	11,343	100.0%
Total votes			11,343	100.0%

General election

Texas's 27th State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Eddie Lucio Jr. (incumbent)	134,035	64.81%
	Republican	Vanessa Tijerina	72,768	35.19%
Total votes			206,803	100.00%
	Democratic hold

District 28

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Charles Perry (incumbent)	90,762	100.0%
Total votes			90,762	100.0%

General election

Texas's 28th State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Charles Perry (incumbent)	248,025	100.00%
Total votes			248,025	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 29

Democratic primary

Democratic primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Cesar Blanco	59,620	100.0%
Total votes			59,620	100.0%

Republican primary

Republican primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bethany Hatch	15,817	100.0%
Total votes			15,817	100.00%

General election

Texas's 29th State Senate District General Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Cesar Blanco	176,360	67.32%
	Republican	Bethany Hatch	85,619	32.68%
Total votes			261,979	100.00%
	Democratic hold

Special elections

District 14

The seat for District 14 became vacant on April 30, 2020, after the resignation of Kirk Watson.^[11] A special election was originally called for July 14, 2020. However, Eddie Rodriguez chose not to contest the resulting runoff, thus the scheduled runoff was canceled and Sarah Eckhardt was deemed elected.

Texas's 14th State Senate District Special Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sarah Eckhardt	59,267	49.7%
	Democratic	Eddie Rodriguez	40,384	33.8%
	Republican	Donald Zimmerman	15,565	13.0%
	Republican	Waller Thomas Burns II	1,442	1.2%
	Independent	Jeff Ridgeway	1,386	1.2%
	Libertarian	Pat Dixon	1,306	1.1%
Total votes			119,350	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 30

A special election for Texas State Senate District 30 has been called for September 29, 2020. The candidate filing deadline was August 28, 2020. The seat became vacant after the resignation of Pat Fallon on August 23, 2020.

Texas's 30th State Senate District Special Election, 2020

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Shelley Luther	22,135	32.2%
	Republican	Drew Springer Jr.	21,971	31.9%
	Democratic	Jacob Minter	14,572	21.2%
	Republican	Christopher Watts	4,284	6.2%
	Republican	Craig Carter	3,413	5.0%
	Republican	Andy Hopper	2,432	3.5%
Total votes			68,807	100.0%

Runoff

Texas's 30th State Senate District Special Election, 2020 runoff

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Drew Springer Jr.	32,599	56.45%
	Republican	Shelley Luther	25,146	43.55%
Total votes			57,745	100.0%
	Republican hold

See also

• 2020 Texas elections

References

1. "State Senate Districts, 86th Legislature, 2019-2020" (PDF). Texas Legislative Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2019. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
2. "Texas - State Legislative District Maps (Upper Chamber) - Geography". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on October 12, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
3. Svitek, Patrick (December 2, 2020). "On Election Day, Republicans lost a critical advantage in the state Senate. Will Dan Patrick push to change the rules?". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
4. Samuels, Alex (January 14, 2021). "Texas Senate changes rules so Republicans can still bring bills to floor without Democratic support". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
5. "October Overview: Handicapping the 2020 State Legislature Races". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
6. Nuttycombe, Chaz (May 7, 2020). "The State of the States: The Legislatures". University of Virginia Center for Politics.
7. "Texas State Senate elections, 2020". Ballotpedia. Retrieved July 14, 2020.
8. "Election Night Results". Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved August 31, 2021.
9. "District 4 Election Results".
10. Rodriguez, Jakob; Marquez, RJ (October 30, 2020). "Election results 2020: Roland Gutierrez elected to Texas State Senate District 19 seat". KSAT. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
11. "State Sen. Kirk Watson to retire from Texas Senate". Texas Tribune. February 18, 2020. Retrieved June 17, 2020.

External links

• Elections Division at the Texas Secretary of State official website
• Texas Election Results
• Texas at Ballotpedia
• University of Texas Libraries, "Voting and Elections", Research Guides
• "League of Women Voters of Texas". (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)
• Texas 2019 & 2020 Elections, OpenSecrets