2002 Texas House of Representatives election

November 5, 2002
All 150 seats in the Texas House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Tom Craddick Pete Laney Party Republican Democratic Leader since January 9, 1973 January 12, 1993 Leader's seat 82nd 85th Last election 72 78 Seats won 88 62 Seat change 16 16 Popular vote 2,338,133 1,553,606 Percentage 58.98% 39.19% Swing 2.28% 1.84%
Results by seat gains Results by vote share      Republican hold      Republican gain      Democratic hold      Democratic gain Republican:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      ≥90% Democratic:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      ≥90%
Speaker before election Pete Laney Democratic Elected Speaker Tom Craddick Republican

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Government

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,^[10] 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:^[11]

County	1990 pop.	Seats	Partial	2000 pop.[10]	Seats	Partial	+/– W	+/– P
Bell County	191,073	1	Yes	238,000	1	Yes
Bexar County	1,185,394	11	No	1,393,035	10	No	1
Brazoria County	191,707	1	Yes	241,805	1	Yes
Brazos County	121,862	1	Yes	152,436	1	Yes
Cameron County	260,120	2	Yes	334,884	2	Yes
Collin County	264,036	2	Yes	491,272	3	Yes	1
Dallas County	1,852,691	16	No	2,216,808	16	No
Denton County	273,644	2	Yes	433,065	3	No	1
Ector County	118,934	1	Yes	121,124	0	Yes	1
El Paso County	591,610	5	No	679,568	5	No
Fort Bend County	225,421	2	No	354,286	2	Yes
Galveston County	217,396	2	No	250,178	1	Yes	1
Harris County	2,818,101	25	No	3,401,139	25	No
Hidalgo County	383,545	3	Yes	569,099	4	No	1
Jefferson County	239,389	2	Yes	251,968	1	Yes	1
Lubbock County	222,636	2	No	242,644	1	Yes	1
McLennan County	189,123	1	Yes	213,525	1	Yes
Montgomery County	182,201	1	Yes	293,779	2	Yes	1
Nueces County	291,145	2	Yes	313,512	2	Yes
Smith County	151,309	1	Yes	174,861	1	Yes
Tarrant County	1,170,103	10	No	1,449,290	10	No
Taylor County	119,655	1	Yes	126,606	0	Yes	1
Travis County	576,407	5	No	811,776	6	No	1
Webb County	133,239	1	Yes	193,124	1	Yes
Wichita County	122,378	1	Yes	131,695	0	Yes	1
Williamson County	139,551	1	Yes	250,466	1	Yes

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.^[1][2]

Statewide

Summary of the November 5, 2002 Texas House of Representatives election results

Party		Candidates	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Republican Party	114	2,338,133	58.98%	88	16
	Democratic Party	103	1,553,606	39.19%	62	16
	Libertarian Party	32	58,791	1.48%	0	–
	Green Party	7	11,079	0.78%	0	–
	Independent	1	2,385	0.06%	0	–
	Write-in	1	79	0.00%	0	–
Total			3,964,073	100.00%	150	–

Popular vote Republican   58.98% Democratic   39.19% Libertarian   1.48% Libertarian   0.28% Independent   0.06%

House seats won Republican   58.67% Democratic   41.33%

References