1996 Texas House of Representatives election

← 1994 November 5, 1996 1998 →
All 150 seats in theTexas House of Representatives 76 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Pete Laney Tom Craddick Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 12, 1993 January 9, 1973 Leader's seat 85th 82nd Last election 89 61 Seats before 87 63 Seats won 82 68 Seat change 5 5 Popular vote 2,015,951 2,502,499 Percentage 44.18% 54.84% Swing 3.94% 3.85%
Results by seat gains Results by vote share      Democratic hold     Democratic gain      Republican hold     Republican gain Democratic:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     ≥90% Republican:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     ≥90%
Speaker before election Pete Laney Democratic ElectedSpeaker Pete Laney Democratic

The1996 Texas House of Representatives elections took place as part of the biennialUnited States elections. Texas voters elected state representatives in all 150State House of Representatives districts. The winners of this election served in the75th Texas Legislature. State representatives serve for two-year terms. Republicans gained five seats from the Democrats, reducing the Democratic majority to 82 out of 150 seats.

Democrats had held control of the Texas House of Representatives sinceReconstruction. After the 1994 elections,RepublicangovernorGeorge W. Bush appointed Democratic RepresentativeElton Bomer of the 11th district as the state insurance commissioner.^[1] In the ensuing special election, RepublicanTodd Staples narrowly avoided a runoff, defeating two Democrats to flip the seat.^[2] Later in 1995, Representative Warren Chisum of the 88th district switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.^[3]

Democrats had fully controlled theredistricting process in 1991, and Republicans sued over the Texas House's map. The courts partially overhauled the map as a result of these lawsuits.^[4] Democrats codified the court's map into law in a January 1992 special session.^[5] The 1995 lawsuitThomas v. Bush further altered the maps, as the courts reached a settlement with the legislature to alter the several districts inHarris,Dallas, andBexar Counties for the 1996 elections.^[4][6][7]

Despite having hopes of winning control of the chamber from the Democrats due to Texas's increasing Republican lean, Republicans only flipped five seats.^[8][9]

Summary of the November 5, 1996 Texas House of Representatives election results

Party		Candidates	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Democratic Party	100	2,015,951	44.18%	82	5
	Republican Party	107	2,502,499	54.84%	68	5
	Natural Law Party	8	23,023	0.50%	0	–
	Libertarian Party	9	20,619	0.45%	0	–
	Independent	1	673	0.01%	0	–
	Write-in	1	345	0.01%	0	–
Total			4,563,110	100.00%	150	–

• 1996 Texas elections
• 1996 state legislature elections in the United States
• Texas House of Representatives elections

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