Texas Senate


The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form a bicameral system for the state legislature of Texas. The Senate has meetings at the Texas State Capitol in Austin for several occasions, such as budgeting, lawmaking, addressing important issues, or joint sessions.
The Republicans currently control the chamber. With 2 vacant seats, there is currently a total of 18 Republicans and 11 Democrats making up the Senate.
The Senate is made up of 31 members, where each represents a single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 940,000 per constituency, based on the 2020 U.S. census. Texas Senate districts contain the second largest electorate per member for a legislature in the United States. Elections are held in even-numbered years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
Senators serve four year terms, with no term limits. Senators are divided into two groups based in part on the intervening Census:
  • In elections in years ending in "2", all 31 seats are up for election.
  • Once the Senate meets in session after said election, the Senators will participate in a drawing to determine their election cycle:
  • *One-half will have a 2-4-4 cycle, whereupon the seat would stand for election after two years, then again in four years, then finally in another four years.
  • *The other half will have a 4-4-2 cycle, whereupon the seat would stand for election after four years, then again in four years, then finally in only two years.
As such, every two years, almost half of the senate is up for election.

Leadership

The Lieutenant Governor of Texas serves as the President of the Senate. Unlike most lieutenant governors who are constitutionally designated as presiding officers of the upper house, the Lieutenant Governor regularly presides over the chamber rather than delegate this role to the President Pro Tempore. The Lieutenant Governor's duties include appointing chairs of committees, committee members, assigning and referring bills to specific committees, recognizing members during debate, and making procedural rulings. The Lieutenant Governor may also cast a vote should a Senate floor vote end in a tie. If the Senate votes to dissolve itself into the Committee of the Whole, in which all members are part of the Committee, the President Pro-Tempore presides over the proceedings, with the Lieutenant Governor acting as a regular voting member. Due to the various powers of committee selection and bill assignment, the Lieutenant Governor of Texas is considered one of the most powerful lieutenant governorships in the United States.
Unlike other state legislatures, the Texas Senate does not have official majority or minority leaders. Instead, the President Pro Tempore is considered the second most powerful position, regardless of party affiliation. Presidents Pro Tempore are usually the most senior members of the Senate. The President Pro Tempore presides when the Lieutenant Governor is not present or when the legislature is not in regular session.

Leaders

History

Quorum-busting

There have been at least three cases of quorum-busting in Texas Senate history. The first case was in 1870, with the Rump Senate, followed by the 1979 Killer Bees and finally the "Texas Eleven" in August 2003 during the controversial mid-decade redistricting plan at the time.

Committee structure

The Lieutenant Governor appoints the members to the various standing committees. The exact number and size of these committees can change with any given session. In addition to the standing committees there can be issue specific special, joint, and interim committees.
The following represents the Senate standing committee structure for the 89th Legislature.
  • Administration
  • Border Security
  • Business and Commerce
  • Criminal Justice
  • Economic Development
  • Education K-16
  • Finance
  • Health & Human Services
  • Jurisprudence
  • Local Government
  • Natural Resources
  • Nominations
  • State Affairs
  • Transportation
  • Veteran Affairs
  • Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs
In addition to these committees, there are also six joint committees composed of members of both the State Senate and House:

Current members, 2025–2027

DistrictImageSenatorPartyResidenceFirst electedNext election
1Bryan HughesRepublicanMineola20162026
2Bob HallRepublicanEdgewood20142026
3Robert NicholsRepublicanJacksonville20062026
4Vacant2026
5Charles SchwertnerRepublicanGeorgetown20122026
6Carol AlvaradoDemocraticHouston2018†2028
7Paul BettencourtRepublicanHouston20142028
8Angela PaxtonRepublicanMcKinney20182028
9Taylor Rehmet DemocraticFort Worth20262026
10Phil KingRepublicanWeatherford20222028
11Mayes MiddletonRepublicanFriendswood20222026
12Tan ParkerRepublicanFlower Mound20222028
13Borris MilesDemocraticHouston20162026
14Sarah EckhardtDemocraticAustin2020†2028
15Molly CookDemocraticHouston2024†2028
16Nathan JohnsonDemocraticDallas20182028
17Joan HuffmanRepublicanHouston2008†2028
18Lois KolkhorstRepublicanBrenham2014†2026
19Roland GutierrezDemocraticSan Antonio20202026
20Juan HinojosaDemocraticMcAllen20022028
21Judith ZaffiriniDemocraticLaredo19862026
22Brian BirdwellRepublicanGranbury2010†2026
23Royce WestDemocraticDallas19922028
24Pete FloresRepublicanPleasanton20222026
25Donna CampbellRepublicanNew Braunfels20122028
26Jose MenendezDemocraticSan Antonio2015†2026
27Adam HinojosaRepublicanCorpus Christi20242028
28Charles PerryRepublicanLubbock2014†2026
29Cesar BlancoDemocraticEl Paso20202028
30Brent HagenbuchRepublicanDenton20242028
31Kevin SparksRepublicanMidland20222026

† Elected in a special election

Past composition of the Senate

The Senate was continuously held by Democrats from the end of the Reconstruction era until the Seventy-fifth Texas Legislature was seated in 1997, at which point Republicans took control. The Republican Party has maintained its control of the Senate since then.

Obsolete districts