Texas House of Representatives elections, 2024

2024 Texas House Elections
Primary	March 5, 2024
Primary runoff	May 28, 2024
General	November 5, 2024

2024 Elections
Choose a chamber below:

Elections for the Texas House of Representatives took place in 2024. The general election was on November 5, 2024. The primary was March 5, 2024, and the primary runoff was May 28, 2024. In 2024, minor party county conventions were held on March 16, 2024, and district conventions were held on March 24, 2024. The filing deadline was December 11, 2023.

Following the election, Republicans maintained an 88-62 majority.

The Texas House of Representatives was one of 85 state legislative chambers with elections in 2024. There are 99 chambers throughout the country.

Party control

See also: Partisan composition of state houses and State government trifectas

Texas House of Representatives
Party	As of November 5, 2024	After November 6, 2024
	Democratic Party	63	62
	Republican Party	86	88
	Vacancy	1	0
Total	150	150

Aftermath

See also: Election for speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, 2025

On January 14, 2025, the members of the Texas House of Representatives elected Dustin Burrows (R) to serve as speaker through 2026. Burrows defeated David Cook (R) on the second round of voting 85-55, supported by 49 Democrats and 36 Republicans. Incumbent Dade Phelan (R), first elected to the speakership in 2021, did not run for a third term.^[1]

In addition to Burrows and Cook, Rep. Ana-Maria Ramos (D) ran for speaker and received 23 votes in the first round of voting. With none of the candidates receiving a majority, voting moved to a runoff between Burrows and Cook. Republicans controlled 88 of the legislature's 150 seats as a result of the 2024 elections, with 76 votes needed to win the speakership.^[1]

In an interview with FOX 4 News, Southern Methodist University professor Matthew Wilson described the election for speaker as reflecting "the ongoing division among Republicans in the Texas House between a conservative faction and a more establishment moderate faction, and that is a battle that has been going on among Texas Republicans for more than a decade now over House leadership," with the conservative faction supporting Cook and the establishment faction supporting Burrows. Wilson said the election would determine "whether the the House is going to operate more or less the way the Senate does and whether it's going to have a decidedly conservative flavor to it, as we've seen in the Texas Senate."^[2]

In his review of the 2023 legislative session, Rice University professor Mark Jones rated 11 House Republicans as less conservative than Burrows and 72 as more conservative. Jones rated 47 House Republicans as less conservative than Cook and 36 as more conservative.^[3]

Local political observers also described the March 5 Republican primaries for Texas House in 2024 as a battle between a more moderate and a more conservative wing of the state Republican Party. The primaries took place following two votes in 2023 that divided the House Republican caucus—one in which the House voted against introducing a school voucher program over Gov. Greg Abbott's (R) objections and one in which the House voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). Both Cook and Burrows voted in support of Abbott's voucher proposal and in favor of impeaching Paxton.

Aftermath of 2024 Republican primaries

See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2024 (March 5 Republican primaries)

2024 Texas House Elections
Primary	March 5, 2024
Primary runoff	May 28, 2024
General	November 5, 2024

2024 Elections
Choose a chamber below:

The 2024 Republican primaries for Texas House took place in the context of two votes taken in 2023 that divided the caucus. The first was the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). Sixty Republicans joined with 61 Democrats as the House voted 121-23 to impeach Paxton.^[4] In the second vote, 21 Republicans joined with 63 Democrats as the House voted 84-63 to remove a provision for school vouchers from an education funding bill. Governor Greg Abbott (R) supported the voucher proposal.^[5][6] Both Burrows and Cook voted to impeach Paxton and against removing the Abbott-backed voucher proposal from the education bill.

Of the 88 Republicans who voted on a speaker for the 2025 session, 62 were also in office in 2023 and voted on impeachment and vouchers. Thirteen of the 26 newly-elected Republicans ran in—and won—primaries against legislators who voted on impeachment and vouchers. All 13 newly-elected legislators who won primary challenges in 2024 appeared on Cook's list of supporters and did not appear on Burrows' list.

Of the House Republicans who were in office in both 2023 and 2025, a majority of those who appeared on Burrows' list of supporters voted to impeach Paxton and a majority of those who appeared on Cook's list of supporters voted against impeaching Paxton. Although majorities of both candidates' supporters voted to keep the voucher proposal in place, all legislators who did vote against the voucher proposal appeared on Burrows' list of supporters.

Vote to impeach Ken Paxton

Of the 88 House Republicans participating in the caucus vote, 43 voted to impeach Paxton in 2023 and 17 voted against impeachment. Twenty-six more had not been elected yet and two were in office but did not vote on impeachment. A majority of House Republicans who voted to impeach Paxton backed Burrows, with 29 (67%) appearing only on Burrows' list of supporters, 12 (28%) appearing only on Cook's list of supporters, and two (5%) appearing on both lists. A majority of House Republicans who voted against impeaching Paxton backed Cook, with 15 (88%) appearing only on Cook's list of supporters and one each (6% each) appearing only on Burrows' list and on both lists.

Of the 13 Republicans first elected to the House in 2024 after a successful primary challenge to a Republican incumbent, 12 (92%) defeated an incumbent who voted to impeach Paxton and one (8%) defeated an incumbent who voted against impeachment. All 13 appeared only on Cook's list.

Thirty-three House Republicans on Burrows' list of supporters were members of the House during 2023 and voted on impeachment. Thirty-one of those legislators (94%) voted to impeach Paxton. The two who voted against impeaching Paxton were Charles Cunningham and E. Sam Harless. Cunningham appeared on both candidates' supporter lists and said he intended to support Cook.

Thirty House Republicans on Cook's list of supporters were members of the House during 2023 and voted on impeachment.^[7] Sixteen of those legislators (53%) voted against impeaching Paxton while 14 (47%) voted in favor.

Vote to remove voucher provision

Of the 88 House Republicans participating in the caucus vote, 54 voted to keep the voucher proposal in place in 2023 and seven voted to remove it. Twenty-six more had not been elected yet and one was in office but did not vote on the proposal. A majority of House Republicans who voted to keep vouchers in place backed Cook, with 29 (54%) appearing only on Cook's list of supporters, 22 (41%) appearing only on Burrows' list, and three (6%) appearing on both lists. All seven House Republicans who voted to remove the voucher proposal backed Burrows.

Of the 13 Republicans first elected to the House in 2024 after a successful primary challenge to a Republican incumbent, eight (62%) defeated incumbents who voted to remove the voucher proposal and five (38%) defeated incumbents who voted to keep the voucher proposal. All 13 appeared only on Cook's list.

Thirty-two House Republicans on Burrows' list of supporters were members of the House during 2023 and voted on the voucher proposal.^[8] Twenty-five of those legislators (78%) voted to keep the voucher proposal and seven (22%) voted to remove it.

Thirty-two House Republicans on Cook's list of supporters were members of the House during 2023 and voted on the voucher proposal. All 32 voted to keep the voucher proposal in place.

Candidates

General election

Primary runoff

Primary

Convention candidates

In 2024, minor party county conventions were held on March 16, 2024 and district conventions were held on March 24, 2024.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Texas

General election race ratings

The table below displays race ratings for each race in this chamber from CNalysis.

Campaign finance

See also: Campaign finance

The section and tables below contain data from financial reports submitted to state agencies. Districts and elections are grouped in sections of 10. To view data for a district, click on the appropriate bar below to expand it. The data is gathered and made available by Transparency USA.

Incumbents who were not re-elected

See also: Annual State Legislative Competitiveness Report: Vol. 14, 2024

Incumbents defeated in general elections

See also: Incumbents defeated in state legislative elections, 2024

No incumbents lost in general elections. An average of 5.9 incumbents lost in even-year general elections from 2010-2022.

Incumbents defeated in primaries

See also: Incumbents defeated in state legislative elections, 2024

Sixteen incumbents lost in primaries. This was more than the average of 6.4 incumbent defeats per cycle from 2010 to 2022.

Name	Party	Office
Jill Dutton	Republican	House District 2
Travis Clardy	Republican	House District 11
Ernest Bailes	Republican	House District 18
Jacey Jetton	Republican	House District 26
Justin Holland	Republican	House District 33
John Kuempel	Republican	House District 44
Hugh Shine	Republican	House District 55
DeWayne Burns	Republican	House District 58
Glenn Rogers	Republican	House District 60
Frederick Frazier	Republican	House District 61
Reggie Smith	Republican	House District 62
Lynn Stucky	Republican	House District 64
Kronda Thimesch	Republican	House District 65
Stephanie Klick	Republican	House District 91
Steve Allison	Republican	House District 121
Shawn Thierry	Democratic	House District 146

Retiring incumbents

Seventeen incumbents did not file for re-election in 2024.^[9] This was higher than the average of 15.7 retirements per election cycle from 2010 to 2022. Those incumbents were:

Name	Party	Office
Bryan Slaton	Republican	House District 2
Matt Schaefer	Republican	House District 6
Kyle Kacal	Republican	House District 12
John Raney	Republican	House District 14
Ed Thompson	Republican	House District 29
Geanie Morrison	Republican	House District 30
Abel Herrero	Democratic	House District 34
Andrew Murr	Republican	House District 53
Charles Anderson	Republican	House District 56
Evelina Ortega	Democratic	House District 77
Tracy King	Democratic	House District 80
Four Price	Republican	House District 87
Craig Goldman	Republican	House District 97
Victoria Neave Criado	Democratic	House District 107
Carl Sherman Sr.	Democratic	House District 109
Julie Johnson	Democratic	House District 115
Jarvis Johnson	Democratic	House District 139

Primary election competitiveness

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on state legislative primary election competitiveness in Texas. These totals include data from all regularly-scheduled House and Senate elections. For more information about Ballotpedia's competitiveness analysis of state legislative elections, please click here.

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all state legislative districts up for election in Texas in 2024. Information below was calculated on Feb. 28, 2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Fifty-eight Texas state legislative incumbents faced primary challenges, representing 40% of all those running for re-election. This was the highest number and percentage of contested incumbents since 2014. 

Of the 58 incumbents in contested primaries, 13 were Democrats and 45 were Republicans.

Texas had 93 contested state legislative primaries in 2024, a 3% decrease from 2022.

Of the 93 contested primaries, there were 33 for Democrats and 60 for Republicans. For Democrats, this was the same as in 2022. For Republicans, the number was down 5% from 63 in 2022.

Overall, 411 major party candidates — 199 Democrats and 212 Republicans — filed to run. All 150 House and 15 of 31 Senate seats were up for election.

Nineteen of those seats were open, meaning no incumbents filed. This guaranteed that at least 12% of seats up for election would be represented by newcomers in 2025.

Open seats

Open Seats in Texas House of Representatives elections: 2010 - 2024
Year	Total seats	Open seats	Seats with incumbents running for re-election
2024	150	17 (11 percent)	133 (89 percent)
2022	150	26 (17 percent)	122 (83 percent)
2020	150	10 (7 percent)	140 (93 percent)
2018	150	10 (7 percent)	140 (93 percent)
2016	150	14 (9 percent)	136 (91 percent)
2014	150	12 (8 percent)	138 (92 percent)
2012	150	29 (19 percent)	121 (81 percent)
2010	150	7 (5 percent)	143 (95 percent)

Legislative referrals

See also: Legislative referral

A legislative referral, or legislatively referred ballot measure, is a ballot measure that appears on the ballot due to a vote of the state legislature. A legislative referral can be a constitutional amendment, state statute, or bond issue.

As of the 2024 elections, proposed amendments needed to be approved in a joint resolution of both the Texas State Senate and the Texas House of Representatives. The joint resolution could have originated in either the House or the Senate. The resolution needed to be adopted by a vote of at least two-thirds of the membership of each house of the legislature. That amounted to a minimum of 100 votes in the House of Representatives and 21 votes in the Senate.

At the time of the 2024 election, Republicans held a 19-12 majority in the Senate and a 86-64 majority in the House. Democrats needed to win nine Senate seats and 36 House seats to be able to pass legislative referrals without Republican votes. Republicans needed to win two Senate seats and 14 House seats to have the same ability.

Process to become a candidate

See also: Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Texas

See statutes: Title 9 of the Texas Election Code

A candidate in Texas may run with an officially recognized political party, as an independent, or as a write-in.

For major party candidates

In order to run with a major political party, a candidate must file an application with the county or state party chair and pay a filing fee. A candidate also has the option of filing a petition in lieu of the filing fee. Application and petition forms are available through local party officials or the Texas Secretary of State. The regular filing period for the primary election begins on the 30th day before the date of the regular filing deadline, which is 6 p.m. on the second Monday in December of an odd-numbered year.^[11]

A chart detailing the signature and filing requirements for each particular office can be accessed here.^[12]

For minor party candidates

State-qualified minor parties nominate candidates by convention. To be considered for nomination by a convention, a minor party candidate must file an application for nomination no later than 6 p.m. on the second Monday in December of an odd-numbered year, preceding the minor party’s convention. A candidate seeking nomination for a state or district office must file with the state party chair. Candidates for county or precinct offices must file applications with county party chairs. Effective September 1, 2021, a candidate nominated via convention must either pay a filing fee (equal to the filing fee paid by major party candidates in primary elections) or submit a petition a petition in lieu of paying the filing fee.^[13][14]

For independent candidates

A candidate may have his or her name placed on the general election ballot as an independent candidate if he or she is not affiliated with a political party.^{[15][16][17][18][19]}

To run as an independent, a candidate must file a declaration of intent with the county judge (county or precinct offices) or the Texas Secretary of State (district and state offices) during the same filing period as major and minor party candidates.^[16][20]

This paperwork must include signatures of voters who have not participated in the primary election or the runoff primary election of a party that has nominated, at either election, a candidate for the office the petitioning candidate seeks.^[16][21]

A chart detailing the signature and filing requirements for each particular office can be accessed here.^[16]

For write-in candidates

In order to become a write-in candidate in the general election, the candidate must file a declaration of candidacy with the Texas Secretary of State or the county judge, as appropriate, no later than 5 p.m. of the 78th day before general election day.^[22][23]

The declaration must be accompanied by either a filing fee or a nominating petition signed by a certain number of qualified voters. A chart detailing the signature and filing requirements for each particular office can be accessed here.^[22][24]

Qualifications

See also: State legislature candidate requirements by state

To be eligible to serve in the Texas House of Representatives, a candidate must be:^[25]

• A U.S. citizen
• 21 years old before the general election
• A two-year resident of Texas before the general election
• A district resident for 1 year prior to the general election.

Salaries and per diem

See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries

State legislative salaries, 2024[26]
Salary	Per diem
$7,200/year	$221/day

When sworn in

See also: When state legislators assume office after a general election

Texas legislators assume office at the beginning of the legislative session, which starts at noon on the second Tuesday in January in the year after the election.^[27][28]

Texas political history

Trifectas

A state government trifecta is a term that describes single-party government, when one political party holds the governor's office and has majorities in both chambers of the legislature in a state government.

Texas Party Control: 1992-2025
Three years of Democratic trifectas  •  Twenty-three years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Presidential politics in Texas

2020

See also: Presidential election, 2020

2016

See also: Presidential election, 2016

Texas presidential election results (1900-2024)

• 16 Democratic wins
• 15 Republican wins

Redistricting following the 2020 census

Texas enacted new legislative district boundaries in June 2023 for use in 2024 and until the 2030 census. These districts were the same as those enacted by the state in October 2021. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) signed HB 1000 — establishing state House district boundaries — on June 12, 2023, and he allowed SB 375 — establishing state Senate district boundaries — to become law without his signature on June 18, 2023.^[29][30]

The Texas Tribune's James Barragan wrote in January 2023 that Senate Legislative Redistricting Committee Chairwoman Joan Huffman (R) said the state was re-doing the redistricting process "to ensure that Legislature had met its constitutional requirement to apportion districts in the first regular session after the publishing of the results of the federal census, which is done every 10 years. Because of the pandemic, census numbers were not released until after the end of the last regularly scheduled legislative session on May 31, 2021. Redistricted maps were passed in a subsequent special session that year."^[31] Texas had originally enacted new state legislative districts on October 25, 2021.

See also

Texas	State Legislative Elections	News and Analysis
Texas State Executive Offices Texas State Legislature Texas Courts	2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 Texas elections: 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015	Party control of state government State government trifectas Partisan composition of state legislatures Partisan composition of state senates Partisan composition of state houses

External links

• Texas House of Representatives

Footnotes