User:Takinzinnia/2012 Texas State Senate election

2012 Texas State Senate election

November 6, 2012
All 31 seats in the Texas State Senate 16 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Rep Dem Party Republican Democratic Last election 19 seats, 70.65% 12 seats, 22.71% Seats before 19 12 Seats won 19 12 Seat change Popular vote 4,327,863 2,272,085 Percentage 62.40% 32.76%
President Pro Tempore before election Republican Elected President Pro Tempore Republican

The 2012 Texas State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Texas voters elected state senators in all 31 State Senate districts. State senators serve four-year terms in the Texas State Senate. A statewide map of Texas's state Senate districts can be obtained from the Texas Legislative Council here, and individual district maps can be obtained from the U.S. Census here.

Following the 2010 State Senate elections, the Republicans maintained effective control of the Senate with nineteen members to the Democrats' twelve. As the first election after the 2010 United States Census, all senate districts had to be redrawn to account for population changes over the preceding decade. The map passed by the Republican state government was challenged through various avenues for racial gerrymandering, and ultimately a somewhat less biased map was used.

To claim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats needed to gain four seats. In the end, no seats changed hands.

Background

The Republican Party had held the State Senate since the 1996 elections. Most observers, as well as the national parties, viewed Texas as a safe red state, as Republican candidates had swept statewide elections since 1998. State Republicans reached a new zenith after the 2010 elections, when backlash to the presidency of Barack Obama kept the State Senate firmly in their control and led to a record number of victories in the State House of Representatives.

Challenges to Republican-drawn Senate map

Further information: Abbott v. Perez

Because the legislature draws its own districts after each decennial U.S. Census, subject to approval by the Governor, the Republicans had the opportunity to draw the new boundaries for the 2012 elections, the first time in state history they could do so on their own. The 10th Senate District, the most-altered in the body, belonged to Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth), whose seat was drawn to add more Republican voters from greater Tarrant County while separating voters from Democratic areas out of the district. However, the proposed Senate map for 2012 was challenged under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act and in U.S. District Court for racial gerrymandering. The United States District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled with the plaintiffs and proposed its own map, undoing the racial gerrymander in Senate District 10 and ordering the legislature to draw a new map based on its own. Ultimately, this election used boundaries drawn by both the Court and Republican legislators.

Texas Democrats

Summary of results

Summary of the November 6, 2012 Texas Senate election results

Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
			No.	%	Before	Up	Won	After	+/–
	Republican	28	4,327,863	61.94	19	19	19	19
	Democratic	18	2,272,085	32.52	12	12	12	12
	Libertarian	12	355,249	5.08	0	0	0	0
	Green	2	31,840	0.46	0	0	0	0
	Write-in	1	966	0.00	0	0	0	0
Total			6,987,503	100.00	31	15	15	31
Source:

Popular vote Republican   61.94% Democratic   32.52% Libertarian   5.08% Green   0.46% Write-in   0.00%

Senate seats won Republican   61.29% Democratic   38.71%

District	Democratic		Republican		Others		Total		Result
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
District 1	84,262	28.63%	210,091	71.37%	-	-	294,353	100.00%	Republican hold
District 2	-	-	172,451	100.00%	-	-	172,451	100.00%	Republican hold
District 3	-	-	226,978	100.00%	-	-	226,978	100.00%	Republican hold
District 4	-	-	216,076	86.25%	34,445	13.75%	250,521	100.00%	Republican hold
District 5	-	-	182,554	77.14%	54,107	22.86%	236,661	100.00%	Republican hold
District 6	93,289	70.95%	38,201	29.05%	-	-	131,490	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 7	90,793	31.60%	196,526	68.40%	-	-	287,319	100.00%	Republican hold
District 8	99,101	34.60%	178,238	62.29%	8,899	3.11%	286,147	100.00%	Republican hold
District 9	89,255	38.21%	136,288	58.35%	8,034	3.44%	233,577	100.00%	Republican hold
District 10	147,103	51.12%	140,656	48.88%	-	-	287,759	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 11	93,227	33.98%	181,106	66.02%	-	-	274,333	100.00%	Republican hold
District 12	-	-	203,988	83.41%	40,570	16.59%	244,558	100.00%	Republican hold
District 13	181,866	100.00%	-	-	-	-	181,866	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 14	212,527	80.29%	52,187	19.71%	52,187	-	264,714	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 15	135,822	62.34%	82,038	37.66%	-	-	217,860	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 16	-	-	181,746	100.00%	-	-	181,746	100.00%	Republican hold
District 17	-	-	185,429	77.68%	53,278	22.32%	238,707	100.00%	Republican hold
District 18	-	-	211,230	100.00%	-	-	211,230	100.00%	Republican hold
District 19	122,214	59.40%	83,522	40.60%	-	-	205,736	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 20	112,629	61.53%	70,409	38.47%	-	-	183,038	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 21	129,894	67.63%	56,032	29.17%	6,147	3.20%	192,073	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 22	-	-	188,544	85.57%	31,786	14.43%	220,330	100.00%	Republican hold
District 23	187,407	81.90%	41,429	18.10%	-	-	228,836	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 24	-	-	209,319	100.00%	-	-	209,319	100.00%	Republican hold
District 25	121,906	34.42%	232,261	65.58%	-	-	354,167	100.00%	Republican hold
District 26	141,040	80.33%	-	-	34,043	19.67%	175,583	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 27	113,542	100.00%	-	-	-	-	113,542	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 28	-	-	183,619	86.39%	28,932	13.61%	212,551	100.00%	Republican hold
District 29	116,208	68.60%	53,190	31.40%	-	-	169,398	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 30	-	-	217,877	86.12%	35,127	13.88%	253,004	100.00%	Republican hold
District 31	-	-	195,878	100.00%	-	-	195,878	100.00%	Republican hold
Total	2,272,085	32.52%	4,327,863	61.94%	387,555	5.55%	6,987,503	100.00%	Source: