2002 Texas House of Representatives election explained

Election Name:2002 Texas House of Representatives election
Seat Change2: 16
Leader2:Pete Laney
Party2:Democratic Party (United States)
Leader Since2:January 12, 1993
Leaders Seat2:85th
Last Election2:78
Seats2:62
Popular Vote2:1,553,606
Swing1: 2.28%
Percentage2:39.19%
Swing2: 1.84%
Speaker
Before Election:Pete Laney
Before Party:Democratic
After Election:Tom Craddick
Percentage1:58.98%
Country:Texas
Type:legislative
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2000 Texas House of Representatives election
Previous Year:2000
Next Election:2004 Texas House of Representatives election
Next Year:2004
Seats For Election:All 150 seats in the Texas House of Representatives
Majority Seats:76
Election Date:November 5, 2002
Popular Vote1:2,338,133
Leader1:Tom Craddick
Party1:Republican Party (United States)
Leader Since1:January 9, 1973
Leaders Seat1:82nd
Last Election1:72
Seats Needed1: 4
Seats1:88
Seat Change1: 16
After Party:Republican

The 2002 Texas House of Representatives elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Texas voters elected state representatives in all 150 State House of Representatives districts. The winners of this election served in the 78th Texas Legislature, with seats apportioned according to the 2000 United States census. State representatives serve for two-year terms. Republicans gained control of the House with 88 seats to the Democrats' 62, giving them a governmental trifecta for the first time since Reconstruction.[1] [2]

Background

Democrats had held control of the Texas House of Representatives since Reconstruction despite Republicans winning the governorship in 1994 and the Texas Senate in 1996.[3] [4] In the 2000 elections, Democrats had heavily emphasized the need to maintain control of the chamber to combat a potential Republican gerrymander after the next census. Their heavy investments in key races allowed them to maintain control of the chamber despite governor George W. Bush's victory in the state in the concurrent presidential election.[5] [6]

Redistricting

Following the release of the 2000 census results, the divided Texas Legislature attempted to undergo its decennial redistricting responsibility, but it failed.[7] Many Republicans in the legislature had felt no pressure to redistrict their own lines as control would fall to the Legislative Redistricting Board, which was controlled by Republicans, if they failed to do so. The districts that the board drew were seen as highly favorable to Republicans.[8]

House districts follow the "county line rule," effectively granting individual counties delegations of state house seats based on their population.[9] The census found that Texas had a population of 20,851,820 in 2000, giving each district an "ideal population" of 139,006 people. In 1990, the "ideal population for a district" was 113,006 people. Counties with at least this number of people must fully contain at least one state house district. Counties with sufficient population for two or more districts must be divided into that number of districts. Should a county have sufficient population for one or more district plus a fraction of another, one district from another county may extend into it to represent the remaining population. District delegations for counties with at least one district changed as follows following the 2000 Census:[10]

County1990 pop.SeatsPartial2000 pop.[11] SeatsPartial+/– W+/– P
Bell County191,0731Yes238,0001Yes
Bexar County1,185,39411No1,393,03510No1
Brazoria County191,7071Yes241,8051Yes
Brazos County121,8621Yes152,4361Yes
Cameron County260,1202Yes334,8842Yes
Collin County264,0362Yes491,2723Yes1
Dallas County1,852,69116No2,216,80816No
Denton County273,6442Yes433,0653No1
Ector County118,9341Yes121,1240Yes1
El Paso County591,6105No679,5685No
Fort Bend County225,4212No354,2862Yes
Galveston County217,3962No250,1781Yes1
Harris County2,818,10125No3,401,13925No
Hidalgo County383,5453Yes569,0994No1
Jefferson County239,3892Yes251,9681Yes1
Lubbock County222,6362No242,6441Yes1
McLennan County189,1231Yes213,5251Yes
Montgomery County182,2011Yes293,7792Yes1
Nueces County291,1452Yes313,5122Yes
Smith County151,3091Yes174,8611Yes
Tarrant County1,170,10310No1,449,29010No
Taylor County119,6551Yes126,6060Yes1
Travis County576,4075No811,7766No1
Webb County133,2391Yes193,1241Yes
Wichita County122,3781Yes131,6950Yes1
Williamson County139,5511Yes250,4661Yes
As a result of these changes, the following districts drastically moved:
  1. District 20 moved from East Texas to Williamson County.
  2. District 46 moved from Hays County to Travis County.
  3. District 70 moved from West Texas to Collin County.
  4. District 80 moved from the Permian Basin to South Texas.
  5. District 89 moved from Tarrant County to Collin County.
  6. District 99 moved from Dallas County to Tarrant County.
  7. District 115 moved from Bexar County to Dallas County.

Campaign

Seeking a more favorable redistricting plan to boost his political standing, U.S. House majority leader Tom DeLay organized the Texans for a Republican Majority PAC (TRMPAC) with the express purpose of ensuring the election of Tom Craddick as Speaker of the Texas House.[12] This not only involved electing a Republican majority, but also electing enough Republicans such that not enough could defect to continue to support Democrat Pete Laney's speakership.[13] TRMPAC intervened in several Republican primaries to support candidates it saw as more conservative and more supportive of Craddick. This led to the defeat of multiple moderate Republicans as well as the victory of conservative incumbents against more moderate challengers.[14] TRMPAC raised over $1 million during the 2002 cycle from a variety of corporate sources. About half of this money was laundered from corporate treasuries.[15] Later, these actions would lead to the indictment of DeLay and several TRMPAC officials.

The Democratic Party sought to maintain its control of the House by building a strong, diverse statewide ticket, including Tony Sanchez for governor and Ron Kirk for U.S. Senator. They saw the election as an opportunity to reverse the state's Republican trend without the popular George W. Bush on the ballot.[16]

Results

Republicans flipped twenty one Democratic-held seats, while Democrats flipped five Republican-held seats.[17] Several of these flips came through reapportionment and the movement of districts across the state. With a net gain of sixteen seats, Republicans gained control of the House, giving them a governmental trifecta for the first time since Reconstruction.

Statewide

colspan="15" align="center"
PartyCandidatesVotes%Seats+/–
Republican Party1142,338,13358.98%8816
Democratic Party1031,553,60639.19%6216
Libertarian Party3258,7911.48%0
Green Party711,0790.78%0
Independent12,3850.06%0
Write-in1790.00%0
Total3,964,073100.00%150

Results by district

DistrictDemocraticRepublicanOthersTotalResult
data-sort-type="number" scope="col" Votesdata-sort-type="number" scope="col" %data-sort-type="number" scope="col" Votesdata-sort-type="number" scope="col" %data-sort-type="number" scope="col" Votesdata-sort-type="number" scope="col" %data-sort-type="number" scope="col" Votesdata-sort-type="number" scope="col" %
District 120,62762.05%12,61537.95%--33,242100.00%Democratic hold
District 213,38441.49%18,87258.51%--32,256100.00%Republican gain
District 321,153100.00%----21,153100.00%Democratic hold
District 415,05840.29%22,31359.71%--37,371100.00%Republican hold
District 518,45147.63%20,28652.37%--38,737100.00%Republican gain
District 6--27,729100.00%--27,729100.00%Republican hold
District 7--26,265100.00%--26,265100.00%Republican hold
District 814,12644.79%17,41155.21%--31,537100.00%Republican gain
District 914,65145.12%17,82354.88%--32,474100.00%Republican hold
District 10--28,072100.00%--28,072100.00%Republican hold
District 1121,161100.00%----21,161100.00%Democratic hold
District 1220,05361.15%12,74038.85%--32,793100.00%Democratic hold
District 13--24,161100.00%--24,161100.00%Republican hold
District 14--20,95187.86%2,89412.14%23,845100.00%Republican hold
District 15--33,10891.01%3,2708.99%36,378100.00%Republican hold
District 16--24,514100.00%--24,514100.00%Republican hold
District 1721,63056.38%16,02241.76%7151.86%38,367100.00%Democratic hold
District 1814,70553.05%13,01346.95%--27,718100.00%Democratic hold
District 1912,84644.58%15,97155.42%--28,817100.00%Republican gain
District 20--34,736100.00%--34,736100.00%Republican gain
District 2123,10869.73%10,03230.27%--33,140100.00%Democratic hold
District 2220,218100.00%----20,218100.00%Democratic hold
District 2323,267100.00%----23,267100.00%Democratic hold
District 2414,74641.63%20,67358.37%--35,419100.00%Republican gain
District 258,59230.97%19,14869.03%--27,740100.00%Republican hold
District 26--26,994100.00%--26,994100.00%Republican hold
District 2720,20062.67%12,03437.33%--32,234100.00%Democratic hold
District 28--25,225100.00%--25,225100.00%Republican gain
District 2913,89742.60%18,72857.40%--32,625100.00%Republican gain
District 30--24,205100.00%--24,205100.00%Republican hold
District 3116,665100.00%----16,665100.00%Democratic hold
District 3216,54846.64%18,93053.36%--35,478100.00%Republican hold
District 3318,93066.48%9,54533.52%--28,475100.00%Democratic hold
District 3415,37953.79%13,21146.21%--28,590100.00%Democratic hold
District 3517,04052.33%15,52247.67%--32,562100.00%Democratic hold
District 3613,606100.00%----13,606100.00%Democratic hold
District 3711,454100.00%----11,454100.00%Democratic hold
District 3812,92268.00%6,08232.00%--19,004100.00%Democratic hold
District 3911,498100.00%----11,498100.00%Democratic hold
District 4010,869100.00%----10,869100.00%Democratic hold
District 4110,700100.00%----10,700100.00%Democratic hold
District 4226,961100.00%----26,961100.00%Democratic hold
District 4314,94061.59%9,31938.41%--24,259100.00%Democratic hold
District 44--25,532100.00%--25,532100.00%Republican gain
District 4518,63348.82%18,29847.94%1,2393.25%38,170100.00%Democratic gain
District 4619,25388.29%--2,55311.71%21,806100.00%Democratic gain
District 4715,52432.69%30,00163.18%1,9634.13%47,488100.00%Republican hold
District 4821,92845.38%25,30952.38%1,0842.24%48,321100.00%Republican gain
District 4927,38470.72%9,09523.49%2,2425.79%38,721100.00%Democratic hold
District 5016,02941.17%21,69955.74%1,2033.09%38,931100.00%Republican gain
District 5114,38982.27%--3,10117.73%17,490100.00%Democratic hold
District 5210,97931.60%22,43364.56%1,3363.84%34,748100.00%Republican hold
District 53--31,67590.50%3,3259.50%35,000100.00%Republican hold
District 54--18,812100.00%--18,812100.00%Republican hold
District 55--23,280100.00%--23,280100.00%Republican hold
District 5620,10451.44%18,97948.56%--39,083100.00%Democratic gain
District 5717,35860.20%11,47839.80%--28,836100.00%Democratic hold
District 5810,28531.83%22,02368.17%--32,308100.00%Republican hold
District 5912,33743.25%16,18656.75%--28,523100.00%Republican hold
District 60--28,76291.34%2,7268.66%31,488100.00%Republican hold
District 6111,47531.01%25,52868.99%--37,003100.00%Republican hold
District 6212,21735.40%22,29564.60%--34,512100.00%Republican hold
District 63--33,951100.00%--33,951100.00%Republican hold
District 64--23,27286.87%3,51813.13%26,790100.00%Republican hold
District 65--22,26388.18%2,98311.82%25,246100.00%Republican hold
District 667,48520.03%29,00077.62%8772.35%37,362100.00%Republican hold
District 678,48530.18%19,62669.82%--28,111100.00%Republican hold
District 6812,65934.77%23,75065.23%--36,409100.00%Republican hold
District 6920,252100.00%----20,252100.00%Democratic hold
District 707,07419.82%28,01278.50%6001.68%35,686100.00%Republican gain
District 71--26,78491.04%2,6368.96%29,420100.00%Republican hold
District 729,52130.38%21,43368.40%3831.22%31,337100.00%Republican gain
District 739,30520.85%35,31479.15%--44,619100.00%Republican gain
District 7421,32671.05%8,68828.95%--30,014100.00%Democratic hold
District 7513,26799.41%--790.59%13,346100.00%Democratic hold
District 7617,387100.00%----17,387100.00%Democratic hold
District 7713,914100.00%----13,914100.00%Democratic hold
District 78--18,598100.00%--18,598100.00%Republican hold
District 7914,170100.00%----14,170100.00%Democratic hold
District 8014,30255.80%11,32744.20%--25,629100.00%Democratic gain
District 81--21,583100.00%--21,583100.00%Republican hold
District 82--28,968100.00%--28,968100.00%Republican hold
District 83--31,55191.10%3,0838.90%34,634100.00%Republican hold
District 848,54731.31%18,08866.27%6612.42%27,296100.00%Republican hold
District 8521,12164.63%11,55935.37%--32,680100.00%Democratic hold
District 86--32,387100.00%--32,387100.00%Republican hold
District 878,87234.18%17,08665.82%--25,958100.00%Republican hold
District 88--27,880100.00%--27,880100.00%Republican hold
District 898,24522.27%28,77677.73%--37,021100.00%Republican hold
District 9011,73172.23%4,51127.77%--16,242100.00%Democratic hold
District 91--21,22784.41%3,92115.59%25,148100.00%Republican hold
District 92--25,24888.51%3,27811.49%28,526100.00%Republican hold
District 9310,03343.39%13,08956.61%--23,122100.00%Republican hold
District 94--28,892100.00%--28,892100.00%Republican hold
District 9525,188100.00%----25,188100.00%Democratic hold
District 9614,58939.99%21,89660.01%--36,485100.00%Republican hold
District 9714,29132.58%29,57967.42%--43,870100.00%Republican hold
District 98--37,366100.00%--37,366100.00%Republican hold
District 9910,01229.44%23,42768.89%5661.66%34,005100.00%Republican hold
District 10016,67995.16%--8494.84%17,528100.00%Democratic hold
District 101--16,947100.00%--16,947100.00%Republican hold
District 102--19,136100.00%--19,136100.00%Republican hold
District 1039,00668.75%3,82829.22%2662.03%13,100100.00%Democratic hold
District 10410,02373.99%3,52326.01%--13,546100.00%Democratic hold
District 105--13,46175.85%4,28724.15%17,748100.00%Republican gain
District 106--13,851100.00%--13,851100.00%Republican hold
District 10714,78641.59%20,76458.41%--35,550100.00%Republican gain
District 10810,86233.55%21,51466.45%--32,376100.00%Republican hold
District 10926,74774.50%9,15525.50%--35,902100.00%Democratic hold
District 11019,511100.00%----19,511100.00%Democratic hold
District 11125,721100.00%----25,721100.00%Democratic hold
District 11210,05329.05%24,54870.95%--34,601100.00%Republican hold
District 113--18,065100.00%--18,065100.00%Republican hold
District 114--24,503100.00%--24,503100.00%Republican hold
District 1159,58828.70%23,82371.30%--33,411100.00%Republican gain
District 11615,174100.00%----15,174100.00%Democratic hold
District 1178,13841.02%11,70358.98%--19,841100.00%Republican gain
District 11814,416100.00%----14,416100.00%Democratic hold
District 11915,451100.00%----15,451100.00%Democratic hold
District 12015,280100.00%----15,280100.00%Democratic hold
District 121--30,72089.93%3,44110.07%34,161100.00%Republican hold
District 122--39,04888.45%5,10011.55%44,148100.00%Republican hold
District 12314,46163.09%8,08835.28%3731.63%22,922100.00%Democratic gain
District 12414,970100.00%----14,970100.00%Democratic hold
District 12515,39160.28%10,14339.72%--25,534100.00%Democratic hold
District 126--24,197100.00%--24,197100.00%Republican hold
District 127--28,214100.00%--28,214100.00%Republican hold
District 128--16,421100.00%--16,421100.00%Republican gain
District 129--26,664100.00%--26,664100.00%Republican hold
District 130--29,652100.00%--29,652100.00%Republican hold
District 13118,572100.00%----18,572100.00%Democratic hold
District 132--21,07990.45%2,2259.55%23,304100.00%Republican gain
District 1338,12834.86%15,18965.14%--23,317100.00%Republican hold
District 13421,64546.39%24,52052.55%4921.05%46,657100.00%Republican hold
District 1357,28029.76%17,18670.24%--24,466100.00%Republican hold
District 136--31,763100.00%--31,763100.00%Republican hold
District 1376,29254.75%5,20045.25%--11,492100.00%Democratic hold
District 13810,02640.58%14,68259.42%--24,708100.00%Republican gain
District 13918,559100.00%----18,559100.00%Democratic hold
District 1408,50373.63%3,04526.37%--11,548100.00%Democratic hold
District 14116,478100.00%----16,478100.00%Democratic hold
District 14220,574100.00%----20,574100.00%Democratic hold
District 14310,17591.77%--9138.23%11,088100.00%Democratic hold
District 144--15,41787.51%2,20112.49%17,618100.00%Republican hold
District 14511,087100.00%----11,087100.00%Democratic hold
District 14624,55892.64%--1,9517.36%26,509100.00%Democratic hold
District 14721,253100.00%----21,253100.00%Democratic hold
District 14814,633100.00%----14,633100.00%Democratic hold
District 14910,53044.48%13,14455.52%--23,674100.00%Republican hold
District 150--26,174100.00%--26,174100.00%Republican hold
Total1,553,60639.19%2,338,13358.98%72,3341.82%3,964,073100.00%

Notes and References

  1. News: Halbfinger . David M. . Yardley . Jim . 2002-11-07 . THE 2002 ELECTIONS: THE SOUTH; Vote Solidifies Shift of South To the G.O.P. . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-03-17 . 0362-4331.
  2. Book: Barta . Carolyn . Texas Almanac, 2004-2005 . Alvarez . Elizabeth Cruce . . 2004 . Dallas, Texas . 395–396 . en . Republicans Take Total Control of State Government.
  3. News: Barboza . David . 1996-11-29 . Republicans Strike Deep In the Heart Of Texas . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-03-17 . 0362-4331.
  4. Web site: Rep. Stockman loses in Texas Congress runoff GOP claims majority in one house of state legislature, 1st since 1872 . 2023-03-17 . Baltimore Sun. 12 December 1996 .
  5. News: September 28, 2000 . National Parties Spend For Texas Redistricting Advantage . Congress Daily AM . The Atlantic Monthly Group LLC . March 16, 2023 . Gale Academic OneFile.
  6. Web site: Ramsey . Ross . 2000-11-13 . A Truly Fantastic Week for Political Junkies . 2023-03-17 . The Texas Tribune . en.
  7. News: May 22, 2001 . Texas Legislature Deadlocked Over Redistricting Plan . Congress Daily AM . The Atlantic Monthly Group LLC . March 16, 2023 . Gale Academic OneFile.
  8. Book: Bickerstaff, Steve . Lines in the Sand: Congressional Redistricting in Texas and the Downfall of Tom Delay . University of Texas Press . 2007 . 978-0-292-71474-8 . Austin, Texas . 46 . en.
  9. Web site: Legal Requirements . 2022-01-16 . redistricting.capitol.texas.gov.
  10. Web site: History . 2022-01-16 . redistricting.capitol.texas.gov.
  11. Web site: Bureau . US Census . County Intercensal Tables: 2000-2010 . 2022-01-16 . Census.gov.
  12. Bickerstaff 2007, p. 47
  13. Bickerstaff 2007, p. 48
  14. Bickerstaff 2007, pp. 48–56
  15. Bickerstaff 2007, pp. 56–83
  16. Bickerstaff 2007, pp. 111–112
  17. Web site: November 5, 2002 . 2002 General Election . 2023-05-07 . elections.sos.state.tx.us.