How Many Congressman in Texas?
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Texas Legislature. Together with the Senate, it forms the state’s bicameral legislature.
Wesley Hunt came within 3.3 points of unseating Lizzie Fletcher in the Houston district. The Army veteran hopes to serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives, along with the state senate, makes up the state legislature. The legislature’s duties include consideration of laws, joint resolutions, constitutional amendments, and appropriation bills. The legislature also elects one of its members as speaker, who acts as presiding officer over the body and is responsible for maintaining order during debate, recognizing legislators who wish to speak, and making rulings on procedural matters.
During redistricting after the 2010 census, Republicans tried to maximize their seat share by concentrating Republican voters in as many districts as possible. But these efforts backfired, as the state’s demographics shifted rapidly and white suburban districts began to turn blue.
Incoming Democrat Rep. Jasmine Crockett will represent the Dallas-based 30th District. A progressive, she plans to sit on the House Education and Labor Committee and continue a legacy of pro-worker policy in Congress. Meanwhile, former Smith County Judge Nathaniel Moran will replace bombastic conservative U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert in the Texas 1st District, based in East Texas.
Senate
The Texas Senate consists of 31 members elected for two-year terms. Each senator represents a district. Members are required to be citizens of the United States and qualified electors of Texas. In addition, a member must be at least 21 years old. Members are sworn in at the beginning of each regular session. The presiding officer is the President Pro Tempore.
The state’s Senate delegation comprises 22 Republicans and 13 Democrats. The twelve Democrats fall into three general groups in regard to their location on the ideological spectrum. The most liberal senators are Sarah Eckhardt of Austin and Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio, both of whom have Lib-Con Scores that are significantly more liberal than those of all other Texas Democrats. At the other end of the spectrum are senators Mayes Middleton of Galveston and Bob Hall of Edgewood, who have Lib-Con scores that are more conservative than those of all other Texas Republicans. They are joined by one other Republican, Bryan Hughes of Mineola.
Governor
The state is allocated two members of the U.S. Senate and 36 in the House for the 116th Congress. Until this year, all but one of the Texas governors since annexation into the United States have been Protestants — mostly Baptists and Methodists. The current governor is Greg Abbott, who has been in office for 12 years.
The partisan breakdown of congressional delegations from Texas can change with each election cycle as districts are redrawn. Despite these changes, the state remains firmly in Republicans’ hands.
Among the new Texans in Congress, Jasmine Crockett represents the Democratic-held Dallas district, which has been represented by Eddie Bernice Johnson since 1993. The proud progressive has a reputation for challenging established positions on issues such as gun ownership. She has aligned herself with the liberal House Freedom Caucus in the past. Beto O’Rourke, who won the Democratic primary for the 3rd District, has a progressive record as a member of the state House and endorsed the assault weapons ban in 2022.
Attorney General
The Texas attorney general oversees all state agencies, issues legal opinions upon request of the governor or state officials and defends challenges to Texas laws and suits against state employees and boards in federal court. Attorneys in the office are seen as a bellwether for the national conservative legal movement.
Three decades ago, states’ attorneys general were mostly bureaucratic workhorses chasing child support and defending state agencies against lawsuits. But starting in the 1990s, some Republican-led offices took a more active role in waging ideological wars on federal courts and in Congress.
Paxton is no exception. His office attracts lawyers who left plum jobs at law firms and politicians to join the agency, which he describes as “a beacon for the conservative legal movement.” His wins in major cases have protected prayer in public schools, religious liberty and stopping Environmental Protection Agency rules that regulated ponds, puddles and streams on private property. He’s seeking a seat on the House Ways and Means Committee to push tax cuts, deregulation and limiting abortion access.