1982 Texas Senate election

← 1980 November 2, 1982 1984 →
All 31 seats in theTexas Senate 16 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic Republican Last election 24 7 Seats won 26 5 Seat change 2 2
Results by seat gains Results by vote share      Democratic hold     Democratic gain      Republican hold     Republican gain Democratic:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     ≥90% Republican:     50–60%     80–90%     ≥90%
President Pro Tempore before election Democratic ElectedPresident Pro Tempore Democratic

The1982 Texas Senate elections took place as part of thebiennialUnited States elections. Texas voters elected state senators in all 31State Senate districts. The winners of this election served in the68th Texas Legislature, serving staggered terms, with half of them up for election in 1984 and the other half up in 1986.

Democrats had controlled theTexas Senate since the1872 elections.^[1] The Legislature passedredistricting bills in 1981, but Republican governorBill Clements vetoed the state Senate map. The Legislative Redistricting Board, made up entirely of Democrats, was then tasked with drawing the map for the chamber. Despite this partisan unanimity, stark divisions came about on the Board due to each member's own goals, ranging from incumbency protection to the expansion of minority representation. Several members' potential gubernatorial ambitions also underscored the debate. The Board eventually passed a map in a 4–1 vote, with Comptroller Bob Bullock dissenting.^[2]

The Senate map passed by the Board was challenged by a lawsuit inTerrazas v. Clements.^[3] Additionally, theJustice Department blocked both maps for violating the Voting Rights Act. These challenges were primarily focused on the map's alleged dilution ofHispanic representation.^[4] The map maintained the presence of two districts, one inHouston and the other inDallas, with substantialAfrican American populations, as required by previous court rulings.^[5] Given the imminence of the March primary, and a failed appeal to theU.S. Supreme Court, the courts allowed the map to be used for the 1982 elections.^[6]

Democrats expanded theirsupermajority, winning twenty six seats, a gain of two from the 1980 elections. The Republican Party had been on a resurgence in the past decade, winning the governorship for the first time since Reconstruction in1978 and reaching a high mark in the 1980 elections amid theReagan Revolution. Alagging economy and high urban turnout lead to an underwhelming result in 1982, however, with Republicanslosing the governorship and ground in the legislature.^[7] Of the two predominantly African American districts,District 13 in Houston elected Black DemocratCraig Washington, whileDistrict 23 in Dallas re-elected White DemocratOscar Mauzy.^[5]

• Kingston, Mike (1983).Texas Almanac, 1984-1985. Dallas, Texas:The Dallas Morning News.ISBN 0-914511-00-9.LCCN 10–3390.
• Bickerstaff, Steve. Heath, C. Robert (ed.).Gerrymandering Texas (2020).

• 1982 Texas elections
• 1982 state legislature elections in the United States
• Texas Senate elections

• Articles with short description
• Short description with empty Wikidata description
• Use mdy dates from September 2025