2010 Texas House of Representatives election

2010 Texas House of Representatives election

← 2008 November 2, 2010 2012 →
All 150 seats in the Texas House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Joe Straus Jim Dunnam (Lost re-election) Party Republican Democratic Leader since January 13, 2009 January 14, 2003 Leader's seat 121st 57th Last election 76 74 Seats before 77 73 Seats won 99 51 Seat change 22 22 Popular vote 2,795,975 1,357,943 Percentage 64.71% 31.43% Swing 10.72% 10.39%
Results by seat gains Results by vote share      Republican hold      Republican gain      Democratic hold Republican:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      ≥90% Democratic:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      ≥90%

Elections in Texas
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State government Gubernatorial elections 1845 1847 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1861 1863 1866 1866 1869 1873 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Lieutenant gubernatorial elections 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Attorney General elections 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Comptroller elections 2010 2014 2018 2022 Senate elections 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 House of Representatives elections 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 Constitutional amendments 1972 2005 2007 2021 2023
Austin Mayoral elections 2003 2006 2009 2012 2014 2018 2022 2024 Austin municipal elections 2022 2024
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Dallas–Fort Worth Arlington mayoral elections 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 Dallas mayoral elections 1856 1857 1875 1904 1925 1961 1963 1965 1995 1999 2002 sp 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 Dallas municipal elections 2015 2019 2021 Fort Worth mayoral elections 2003 2007 2009 2011 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 Denton mayoral elections 2020 2022 Plano municipal elections 2017 2019 2021
El Paso Mayoral elections 2001 2003 2005 2009 2013 2017 2020 2024 Municipal elections 2017 2020 2024
Houston Mayoral elections 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2019 2023 Municipal elections 2005 2007 2009
Laredo Mayoral elections 2018 2022
Lubbock Mayoral elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
San Antonio Mayoral elections 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025
Government
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The 2010 Texas House of Representatives elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Texas voters elected state senators in all 150 State House of Representatives districts. The winners of this election served in the 82nd Texas Legislature. State representatives serve for two-year terms.

Following the 2008 elections, the Democrats nearly gained control of the House with 74 members to the Republicans' 76. Republicans saw the freshmen Democratic members elected in 2008 as vulnerable, as many of them had narrowly won and had been the first Democrats elected to those districts in decades.^[1] Democrats also had a large number of incumbents in districts that voted heavily Republican on the national level. In November 2009, Democrat Chuck Hopson announced he had switched his party affiliation to Republican, increasing the size of the Republican caucus to 77. Hopson's district was the most Republican district in the state that had elected a Democrat in 2008.^[2] Democrats needed to gain three seats from the Republicans in order to win the majority.

Republicans very heavily targeted White Democrats representing rural districts that voted for John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. These conservative Democrats attempted to distance themselves from the national Democratic Party as pundits increasingly predicted a Republican wave election in opposition to the policies of President Barack Obama.^[3]

Most analysts expected Republicans to easily maintain control of the Texas House, expanding their narrow majority from the 2008 election. Despite this, many also saw the potentially strong performance by Democrat Bill White in the concurrent gubernatorial election as a force to mitigate the severity of Democratic losses.

In the end, the Republicans routed the Democrats in the general election, erasing all of the gains they had made in 2006 and 2008, as well as defeating almost every Democrat representing a rural, Republican-leaning district. Democrats lost 22 seats in the midst of a nationwide Republican wave election.^[5] On December 14, 2010, Democrat Allan Ritter announced he would be changing his party affiliation to Republican.^[6] On the same day, Democrat Aaron Peña announced he would be switching to the Republican Party as well, claiming that the Democratic Party no longer aligned with his conservative values.^[7] This left the party balance at 101 Republicans and 49 Democrats at the start of the Eighty-second Texas Legislature when it convened on January 11, 2011.

Summary of the November 2, 2010 Texas House of Representatives election results

Party		Candi- dates	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Republican Party	112	2,795,975	64.71%	99	22
	Democratic Party	93	1,357,943	31.43%	51	22
	Libertarian Party	50	155,144	3.59%	0	–
	Green Party	2	1,848	0.04%	0	–
	Independent	2	9,473	0.22%	0	–
	Write-in	1	357	0.01%	0	–
Total				100.00%	150	–

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

District 11: Representative Chuck Hopson (D-Jacksonville) was re-elected as a Democrat in 2008 with 49.29% of the vote. On November 6, 2009, he announced that he would switch parties and seek re-election as a Republican. He would later win re-election in 2010 with 75.82% of the vote.