2026 Texas Senate election

2026 Texas Senate election

November 3, 2026
16 of the 31 seats in the Texas Senate 16 seats needed for a majority
Leader Tan Parker Carol Alvarado Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat 12th–Flower Mound 6th–Houston Last election 8 seats, 45.00% 7 seats, 54.88% Current seats 18 12 Seats needed 4 Seats up 11 5
Map of the incumbents:      Republican incumbent      Democratic incumbent      No election
Incumbent Majority Leader Tan Parker Republican

The 2026 Texas Senate election will be held concurrently to the 2026 Texas House of Representatives elections on November 3, 2026.^[1] Elections will be held in 16 of the 31 Senate districts for four-year terms. The winners of this election will serve in the 90th Texas Legislature. 18 Senate seats are currently held by Republicans, 12 seats are held by Democrats, and one seat, formerly held by a Republican, is vacant. Primary elections will be held on March 3, 2026, with runoffs taking place, if necessary, on May 26, 2026.^[2]

Republicans have controlled the Senate since the 1996 election. Republicans gained one seat in the heavily-Hispanic Rio Grande Valley in the 2024 election, increasing their majority to 20 out of 31 seats.^[3]

During the regular session, the legislature passed a number of bills to advance a conservative agenda. Chief among them a school voucher bill, long a priority of the Senate which had historically been stifled in the more moderate House of Representatives.^[4] The bill allocates $1 billion of public funds for children to attend private schools or for their parents to homeschool them, prioritized based on income and disability.^[5] Other conservative hallmarks related to education included requiring public schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms, banning diversity, equity, and inclusion policies from public schools, and restricting free speech on college campuses in the wake of Gaza war protests at universities. Other new laws included the tightening of bail, restricting the rights of transgender people, easing access to vaccine exemption, and cutting property taxes.^[6] On a more bipartisan basis, the legislature passed bills to alleviate water supply issues, clarify medical exceptions in the state's abortion ban, and ease the construction of housing in amidst the state's growing housing crisis.^[7][8][9]

Greg Abbott had already planned to call a special session to address legislation that did not pass in time during the regular session or that Abbott vetoed, such as a ban on THC products, as well as to address new issues such as deadly flooding in central Texas. At the request of President Donald Trump, Abbott added congressional redistricting to the agenda with the goal of flipping five Democratic-held U.S. House seats to the Republicans in the 2026 elections.^[10] Senate Democrats staged a walkout before the final vote on the bill, with all but two of them leaving the chamber, but unlike in the House, this was not enough to break quorum and block the bill's passage.^[11] The House walkout forced the chamber to pass the bill in a second special session after their walkout ended, which it did on a party-line vote.^[12]

1. District 3: Robert Nichols is retiring^[13]
2. District 4: Brandon Creighton resigned early to serve as Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System^[14]
3. District 11: Mayes Middleton is retiring to run for Attorney General^[15]
4. District 22: Brian Birdwell is retiring^[16]

A special election took place to fill the unexpired term in Texas's 9th Senate district. A special election is scheduled for May 2, 2026, to fill the unexpired term in Texas's 4th Senate district.

Kelly Hancock resigned to become chief clerk of the Texas Comptroller's office in June 2025. A special election to serve the remainder of the term took place on November 4th, 2025.^[18] Democratic candidate Taylor Rehmet received the most votes at 47.6%. He was followed by Republicans Leigh Wambsganss, 36%, and John Huffman, 16%.^[19] Rehmet and Wembsganss advanced to a runoff held on January 31, 2026, which Rehmet unexpectedly won by a large margin.^[20]

Brandon Creighton resigned to serve as Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System.^[14] A special election is scheduled for May 2, 2026. Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon is currently running in the special election as a Republican,^[23] with the endorsement of Lieutenant governor and Senate President Dan Patrick and former senator Creighton.^[24][25]

Summary of the November 3, 2026 Texas Senate election results

Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
			No.	%	Before	Up	Won	After	+/–
	Republican	14			18	11
	Democratic	16			13	5
	Green	1			0	0
Total					31	16	16	31
Source:

† - Incumbent not seeking re-election

Incumbent Republican Bryan Hughes is running for re-election.^[26] He will face Democrat Laticia Ambroz.

Incumbent Republican Bob Hall is running for re-election.^[27] He will face Republican Jason Eddington in the primary, the Republican nominee will face Democrat Keenen Colbert.

Incumbent Republican Robert Nichols is retiring.^[28] Trent Ashby, state representative from the 9th district, is running to replace him.^[29]

The incumbent will be determined by the May 2, 2026 special election.

Incumbent Republican Charles Schwertner is running for re-election.^[30]

• Apollo Hernandez, former Recon Marine combat veteran and cybersecurity expert
• Larry Nance
• Charles Schwertner, incumbent senator

• Kevin Nelson, former educator
• Paul Thomasson, former pastor

Incumbent Democrat Taylor Rehmet was elected in a January special election runoff. He faces a rematch against Republican Leigh Wambsganss in the general election.^[31]

Incumbent Republican Mayes Middleton is retiring to run for Attorney General.^[15] Republican state representative Dennis Paul is running to succeed Middleton, Paul's campaign was endorsed by lieutenant governor Dan Patrick.^[32] Two Democrats, coordinator Shannon Dicely and systems specialist Cameron Rollwitz, are running for the Democratic nomination.

Incumbent Democrat Borris Miles is running for re-election unopposed.

Incumbent Republican Lois Kolkhorst is running for re-election. She will face Democrat Erica Gillum.

Incumbent Democrat Roland Gutierrez is running for re-election. Republicans Marcus Cardenas, Robert Marks Jr. and Adam Ernest Salyer are running for the Republican nomination.

Incumbent Democrat Judith Zaffirini is running for re-election. She will face social worker Cortney Jones in the Democratic primary. The winner of the primary will run unopposed in the general election.

Incumbent Republican Brian Birdwell is retiring.^[16] Three Republicans have filed for the nomination. State representative David Cook is running for the nomination, he will face McLennan County District Clerk Jon Gimble and Angel Wings Ranch director Rena Schroeder. The winner of the primary will face Democrat Amy Martinez-Salas.

Incumbent Republican Pete Flores is running for re-election

Incumbent Democrat José Menéndez is running for re-election. He will face Julián Villarreal, the Green Party nominee for this seat in 2020.

Incumbent Republican Charles Perry is running for re-election. He will face Democrat Riley Rodriquez

Incumbent Republican Kevin Sparks is running for re-election.^[33] he will face Democrat and Amarillo College regent John Betancourt.^[34]

• 2024 Texas elections