Forty Texas House districts saw one party’s candidate have at least a 20K-vote advantage in straight-party voting for the 2016 general election, up from 27 in 2012. Of the 40 seats, Republicans held the advantage in 27 seats, and Democrats held the advantage in 13. On average, about 60K people voted in a House district, so about a third of House districts had a built-in partisan advantage of at least a third of the vote.

  • HD61 – Rep. Phil King (R-Weatherford) | 42,215 votes 100% 100%
  • HD73 – Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R-Fredericksburg) | 37,564 votes 89% 89%
  • HD60 – Rep. Mike Lang (R-Granbury) | 33,976 votes 80% 80%
  • HD16 – Rep. Will Metcalf (R-Conroe) | 31,541 votes 75% 75%
  • HD98 – Rep. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake) | 29,724 votes 70% 70%
  • HD15 – Rep. John Raney (R-Bryan) | 29,139 votes 69% 69%
  • HD130 – Rep. Tom Oliverson (R-Houston) | 27,646 votes 65% 65%
  • HD3 – Rep. Cecil Bell (R-Magnolia) | 26,487 votes 63% 63%
  • HD86 – Rep. John Smithee (R-Amarillo) | 25,787 votes 61% 61%
  • HD58 – Rep. DeWayne Burns (R-Cleburne) | 25,234 votes 60% 60%
  • HD63 – Rep. Tan Parker (R-Flower Mound) | 24,665 votes 58% 58%
  • HD4 – Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Terrell) | 24,305 votes 58% 58%
  • HD13 – Rep. Leighton Schubert (R-Caldwell) | 24,166 votes 57% 57%
  • HD53 – Rep. Andrew Murr (R-Junction) | 24,071 votes 57% 57%
  • HD2 – Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Van) | 23,609 votes 56% 56%
  • HD20 – Rep. Terry Wilson (R-Marble Falls) | 23,505 votes 56% 56%
  • HD19 – Rep. James White (R-Hilister) | 23,175 votes 55% 55%
  • HD5 – Rep. Cole Hefner (R-Mount Pleasant) | 23,062 votes 55% 55%
  • HD62 – Rep. Larry Philips (R-Sherman) | 22,616 votes 54% 54%
  • HD83 – Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) | 22,611 votes 54% 54%
  • HD24 – Rep. Greg Bonnen (R-Friendswood) | 22,360 votes 53% 53%
  • HD70 – Rep. Scott Sanford (R-McKinney) | 21,396 votes 51% 51%
  • HD21 – Rep. Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) | 20,980 votes 50% 50%
  • HD10 – Rep. John Wray (R-Waxahachie) | 20,855 votes 49% 49%
  • HD72 – Rep. Drew Darby (R-San Angelo) | 20,706 votes 49% 49%
  • HD9 – Rep. Chris Paddie (R-Center) | 20,085 votes 48% 48%
  • HD95 – Rep. Nicole Collier (D-Fort Worth) | 20,447 votes 48% 48%
  • HD139 – Rep. Jarvis Johnson (D-Houston) | 21,115 votes 50% 50%
  • HD46 – Rep. Dawnna Dukes (D-Austin) | 21,186 votes 50% 50%
  • HD146 – Rep. Shawn Thierry (D-Houston) | 21,566 votes 51% 51%
  • HD51 – Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin) | 22,276 votes 53% 53%
  • HD141 – Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) | 22,807 votes 54% 54%
  • HD27 – Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City) | 23,036 votes 55% 55%
  • HD110 – Rep. Toni Rose (D-Dallas) | 23,175 votes 55% 55%
  • HD147 – Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) | 23,766 votes 56% 56%
  • HD131 – Rep. Alma Allen (D-Houston) | 25,230 votes 60% 60%
  • HD111 – Rep. Yvonne Davis (D-Dallas) | 26,581 votes 63% 63%
  • HD49 – Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D-Austin) | 26,743 votes 63% 63%
  • HD109 – Rep. Helen Giddings (D-Dallas) | 34,219 votes 81% 81%

Partisan advantage in straight-party voting exceeded 5K in all but 22 House districts, and it exceeded 1K in all but four districts. Republicans won 20 of those 22 districts, despite facing a straight-party disadvantage in seven of those districts.

Republicans won four seats where the Democratic candidate had an advantage in straight-party voting, and may have won a fifth:

  • Rodney Anderson (R-Grand Prairie) overcame a 3,344-vote straight-party deficit
  • Matt Rinaldi (R-Irving) overcame an 1,835-vote deficit
  • Linda Koop (R-Dallas) overcame a 1,099-vote deficit
  • Cindy Burkett (R-Sunnyvale) overcame a 975-vote deficit; and
  • J.M. Lozano (R-) easily overcame a estimated deficit of less than 100 votes, but we have not received data from Bee Co., so there may actually have been a slight Republican advantage.

No Democrat won a seat where the Republican candidate held the straight-party advantage, and only two Democrats won a seat with less than a 5K-vote advantage in straight-party voting. Reps. Victoria Neave (D-Dallas) and Mary Ann Perez (D-Houston), who defeated Republican incumbents, had straight-party advantages of 2,704 and 4,657 votes, respectively.

Republicans won 10 districts carried by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. She overcame straight-party deficits in six of those districts ranging from 438 to 5,994 votes, and she had a straight-party advantage in the other four. Donald Trump’s underperformance did not carry down the ballot, and Republicans otherwise fared well in those districts.

We’ll take a look at the Senate and Congressional districts soon.

©2017 Texas Election Source LLC