1980 Texas Senate election

Last updated

1980 Texas Senate election
Flag of Texas.svg
  1978 November 4, 1980 1982  

16 of the 31 seats in the Texas Senate
16 seats needed for a majority
 Majority partyMinority party
 
Party Democratic Republican
Last election274
Seats won247
Seat changeDecrease2.svg 3Increase2.svg 3

TxSen1980Results.svg
     Democratic hold     Democratic gain
     Republican hold     Republican gain

President Pro Tempore before election


Democratic

Elected President Pro Tempore


Democratic

The 1980 Texas Senate elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Texas voters elected state senators 16 of the 31 State Senate districts. The winners of this election served in the 67th Texas Legislature for two-year terms, with all senators up for election in 1982.

Contents

Background

Democrats had controlled the Texas Senate since the 1872 elections. [1] Texas had historically been a solidly-Democratic state, owing to its history as a part of the Solid South, but this changed dramatically in the 1970s. Republican Richard Nixon won the state in a landslide in the 1972 presidential election and Bill Clements became the first Republican to win the governorship in over 100 years in a narrow 1978 victory. These victories rarely extended far down the ballot, however, with Democrats still holding large supermajorities in both houses of the legislature. [2]

"Killer Bees" quorum bust

The most controversial bill to come up during the regular session of the 66th legislature was a bill to split the state's primary election, creating a separate March primary for the state's presidential nominating delegates while retaining a May primary date for all other offices. [3] Supporters argued it would give the state more influence in presidential politics, while critics accused them of using the measure to support former governor John Connally, who had recently switched to the Republican Party, in his 1980 presidential campaign. A split primary would have allowed conservative Democrats to vote in the Republican presidential primary while voting in the Democratic primary for other offices. [4] Twelve liberal Democratic Senators left the capitol in May 1979 to break quorum, preventing the chamber from conducting any business. They continued to do so for over four days until Republicans and conservative Democrats agreed to drop the bill. [5]

Results

Republicans made a net gain of three seats from the Democrats, bringing their caucus to seven out of thirty-one seats. This large shift came on the coattails of Ronald Reagan's landslide victory in the state in the 1980 presidential election. Republicans won their largest share of legislative seats since the end of Reconstruction over 100 years prior. [6]

Among the defeated Democrats was longtime Galveston Senator Babe Schwartz, a fixture of the Senate's liberal "yellow-dog" faction who was a leader of the "Killer Bees" who broke quorum during the 1979 legislative session. [6] [7] Two other members of the "Killer Bees," Gene Jones of Garland and Ron Clower of Houston, also lost re-election.

Results by district

DistrictDemocraticRepublicanLibertarianTotalResult
Votes%Votes%Votes%Votes%
District 4 -100.00%-----100.00%Democratic hold
District 5 104,36265.84%54,15734.16%--158,519100.00%Democratic hold
District 7 67,69146.99%74,36851.63%1,9871.38%144,046100.00%Republican gain
District 8 36,09027.42%91,45769.48%4,0933.11%131,640100.00%Republican hold
District 9 71,34246.15%83,24953.85%--154,591100.00%Republican gain
District 13 ---100.00%---100.00%Republican hold
District 15 56,48055.20%43,67042.68%2,1682.12%102,318100.00%Democratic hold
District 16 54,97946.54%60,19150.95%2,9742.52%118,144100.00%Republican gain
District 17 70,99749.73%71,77550.27%--142,772100.00%Republican gain
District 18 81,53865.46%43,03134.54%--124,569100.00%Democratic hold
District 19 70,13271.77%27,58828.23%--97,720100.00%Democratic hold
District 20 72,61158.00%52,58742.00%--125,198100.00%Democratic hold
District 22 95,55257.57%70,43142.43%--165,983100.00%Democratic hold
District 24 -100.00%-----100.00%Democratic hold
District 29 -100.00%-----100.00%Democratic hold
District 31 91,04365.35%48,26834.65%--139,311100.00%Democratic gain
Total11,222100.00%Source: [8]

References

  1. May, Janice C. "The Evolution of the Texas Legislature: A Historical Overview". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved September 18, 2025.
  2. Kingston 1981, pp. 490–491
  3. "'Killer Bees' hid to prevent presidential primary change". AP News. February 6, 2017. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  4. Tiede, Saralee; Hobby, Bill (September 1, 2010). "The Sting of the Killer Bees". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  5. Timm, Jane C. (July 14, 2021). "Police pursuits and 'Killer Bees': What happened when Texas Democrats broke quorum in the past". NBC News. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  6. 1 2 Kingston 1981, p. 491
  7. John Wayne, Ferguson; Barnett, Marissa (August 10, 2018). "A.R. "Babe" Schwartz, a Galveston champion in Austin, dies at 92". The Daily News. Retrieved September 29, 2025.
  8. Kingston 1981, pp. 499–500

Further reading