1976 Texas Senate election

The 1976 Texas Senate elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Texas voters elected state senators 16 of the 31 State Senate districts. The winners of this election served in the 65th Texas Legislature for four-year terms.

Background Democrats had controlled the Texas Senate since the 1872 elections. Long a part of the Solid South, Republicans had gained a foothold in the state in the past two decades, electing U.S. Senator John Tower in 1961 and electing Richard Nixon with 66% of the vote in 1972, but these gains rarely made much impact in downballot, local races. Democrats had controlled every statewide office since the end of Reconstruction and controlled large supermajorities in the legislature. Even these small numbers were an improvement from the past two decades, however, such as after the 1964 election when they held a single seat in the House and none in the Senate.

Results Although Democrat Jimmy Carter only narrowly won the state in the concurrent presidential election, Democrats held onto all of their seats in the Senate, maintaining their 28–3 supermajority in the chamber.Kingston 1977, p. 528 Due to a recent constitutional amendment increasing the term lengths of most statewide officers from two to four years, this was the first general election in 100 years not to feature them on the ballot.Kingston 1977, p. 384

Results by district +DistrictDemocraticRepublicanWrite-inTotalResultVotes%Votes%Votes%Votes%District 490,791100.00% - -00.00%90,791100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 5105,15899.97% - -360.03%105,194100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 775,90256.15%56,92343.85%00.00%129,825100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 839,35232.45%81,91167.55%50.00%121,268100.00%Republican holdDistrict 977,51060.59%50,39939.40%80.01%127,917100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 1357,86230.32%132,98269.68%00.00%190,844100.00%Republican holdDistrict 1566,22759.99%44,16540.01%00.00%110,392100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 1655,04350.38%54,20049.61%70.01%109,250100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 1790,05099.79% - -1940.21%90,244100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 1885,43599.97% - -250.03%85,460100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 1973,01678.48%20,02321.52%40.00%93,043100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 2074,91462.53%44,84637.43%400.03%119,800100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 22112,23899.12% - -9980.88%113,236100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 2497,49499.86% - -1390.14%97,633100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 2969,47399.90% - -730.10%69,546100.00%Democratic holdDistrict 31100,19299.99% - -120.01%100,204100.00%Democratic holdTotal1,267,65772.25%485,44927.67%1,5410.09%1,754,647100.00% Source:Kingston 1977, p. 537Election Returns: November 2, 1976, Texas Secretary of State election registers. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.

References

1976 Texas Senate election

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