2008 Texas Senate election

The 2008 Texas Senate elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Texas voters elected state senators in 16 State Senate districts. The winners of this election served in the 81st Texas Legislature. The elected senators served four-year terms in the Texas Senate.

2008 Texas Senate election

November 4, 2008
16 of the 31 seats in the Texas State Senate 16 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Party Republican Democratic Libertarian Seats before 20 11 0 Seats won 19 12 0 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 1,608,910 1,203,432 185,537 Percentage 53.67% 40.14% 6.19% Swing 8.31% 10.62% 2.31%
Senate results by district      Republican hold      Democratic hold      Democratic gain      No election

Background

Following the 2006 elections, the Republicans maintained effective control of the Senate with nineteen members to the Democrats' twelve, a gain of one from the previous elections. To claim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats needed to gain four seats.

Results

Democrats gained one seat with the election of Wendy Davis in District 10.

Statewide

Summary of the November 4, 2008 Texas Senate election results

Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
			No.	%	Before	Up	Won	After	+/–
	Republican	11	1,608,910	53.67%	20	9	8	19	1
	Democratic	10	1,203,432	40.14%	11	6	7	12	1
	Libertarian	12	185,537	6.19%	0	0	0	0
Total			2,997,879	100.00%	31			31

Popular vote Republican   53.67% Democratic   40.14% Libertarian   6.19%

Senate seats won Republican   53.33% Democratic   46.67%

Close races

District	Winner	Margin
District 10	Democratic (flip)	2.40%

Results by district

Race results:

District	Democratic		Republican		Libertarian		Total		Result
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
District 4	-	-	203,367	100.00%	-	-	203,367	100.00%	Republican hold
District 6	72,960	70.01%	27,751	26.63%	3,496	3.35%	104,207	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 9	100,509	43.33%	125,443	54.08%	5,991	2.58%	231,943	100.00%	Republican hold
District 10	147,832	49.92%	140,737	47.52%	7,591	2.56%	296,160	100.00%	Democratic gain
District 11	113,567	41.18%	155,772	56.49%	6,419	2.33%	275,758	100.00%	Republican hold
District 16	89,346	41.06%	122,439	56.27%	5,825	2.86%	217,610	100.00%	Republican hold
District 20	124,456	81.40%	-	-	28,429	18.60%	152,885	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 21	129,802	68.22%	55,480	29.16%	4,980	2.62%	190,262	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 23	176,451	92.40%	-	-	14,503	7.60%	190,954	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 24	-	-	197,125	85.47%	33,518	14.53%	230,643	100.00%	Republican hold
District 26	136,913	81.44%	-	-	31,194	18.56%	168,107	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 27	111,596	100.00%	-	-	-	-	111,596	100.00%	Democratic hold
District 28	-	-	179,059	88.17%	24,022	11.83%	203,081	100.00%	Republican hold
District 30	-	-	221,470	100.00%	-	-	221,470	100.00%	Republican hold
District 31	-	-	180,267	90.21%	19,569	9.79%	199,836	100.00%	Republican hold
Total	1,203,432	40.14%	1,608,910	53.67%	185,537	6.19%	2,997,879	100.00%

There were two new members of the Senate.

District	Outgoing senator	Party	Reason
10	Kim Brimer	Republican	Defeated in general election
17	Kyle Janek	Republican	Resigned June 2, 2008 [1]

Notable races

District 10: The Democratic Party ran City Councilwoman Wendy Davis against Republican and Sunset Advisory Commission chairperson Kim Brimer. The district had been Republican-leaning, having been won by George W. Bush in 2004 and by Governor Rick Perry in 2002 and 2006. Davis won that race with 49.91% of the vote. In 2014, she was the Democratic nominee for governor to succeed Perry.

District 11: The Democrats ran former Galveston city council member Joseph Jaworski against Republican candidate Mike Jackson. The district encompasses the southeast Houston suburbs and part of Galveston County that has consistently voted for Republicans including George W. Bush in 2004, Governor Perry in 2002 and 2006, and U.S. Senator John Cornyn in 2002. Mike Jackson won that race with 56.48% of the vote.

District 17: The Incumbent Republican Kyle Janek announced he would be resigning from the State Senate effective June 2, 2008 to spend more time with his family, who had moved to Austin. A special election was called and was held concurrently with the general election. 4 Republicans and 2 Democrats ran for the unexpired term, most notably, the Republican Party's Joan Huffman, and Democratic former U.S. Representative Christopher Bell, the party's 2006 nominee for governor. Huffman and Bell advanced to a runoff, held December 16, 2008. Huffman won that race with 56% of the vote.

Texas's 17th state senate district special election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Christopher Bell	85,725	38.39%
	Republican	Joan Huffman	58,359	26.14%
	Democratic	Stephanie E. Simmons	30,839	13.81%
	Republican	Austen Furse	22,588	10.12%
	Republican	Ken Sherman	16,728	7.49%
	Republican	Grant Harpold	9,056	4.06%
Total votes			223,295	100.00%

Texas's 17th state senate district special election runoff

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Joan Huffman	24,497	56.09%
	Democratic	Christopher Bell	19,176	43.91%
Total votes			43,673	100.00%
	Republican hold

District 21: Democratic candidate Judith Zaffirini prevailed in her historically Democratic state Senate seat, which includes Laredo. The seat was held from 1967 to 1973 by her mentor, Wayne Connally, a younger brother of John Connally. Republicans fielded former Webb County administrative judge Louis Henry Bruni (born 1949), who switched parties in December 2007 to run against Zaffirini. The district voted for George W. Bush in 2004 and Kay Bailey Hutchison in 2006 but for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Chris Bell in 2006.