AUSTIN — Amid retirements and aspirations for higher office, many seats in the Texas Legislature are open for the taking in the 2025 primaries as a significant number of seats in both chambers will have no incumbent.
Both the state House and Senate have numerous seats that will see new members as candidate filing closed Monday and dozens of senators’ and representatives’ impending departures from the Legislature became official.
Perhaps the most significant vacancy will be that of District 21 state Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, the former speaker. Despite serving as speaker in the 2021 and 2023 legislative sessions, Phelan had to drop his bid to lead the chamber prior to the 2025 session following a push by the GOP’s most conservative members to elect someone viewed as more conservative and more aligned with Trump.
Phelan had served his Southeast Texas district since 2015.
The Texas House will see significant turnover as 21 members of the lower chamber decided to either retire or seek higher office.
Political Points
On the Democratic side, some of the party’s most high-profile members are leaving to seek higher office.
Reps. Vikki Goodwin, Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico, all of whom represent Austin-area districts, are hoping to pull off upsets as they challenge major Republican incumbents. Goodwin is running for lieutenant governor, and Hinojosa is running for governor.
Talarico, meanwhile, is running for U.S. Senate in a Democratic primary that also features Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
In North Texas, GOP Reps. Tony Tinderholt and Nate Schatzline, among the most conservative members in the chamber, decided to step away. Tinderholt is running for the Tarrant County Commissioners Court in a newly redrawn district.
Three Republican candidates are running for Tinderholt’s seat. Among them is Cheryl Bean, who ran for a different Texas House seat in 2024 – the one currently held by Rep. John McQueeney of Fort Worth – but lost in the GOP primary run-off.
Schatzline, meanwhile, decided not to seek reelection after he accepted a position with a national faith-based outreach coalition. Two Republicans filed to replace Schatzline: Alan Blaylock, a member of the Fort Worth City Council, and Steve Sprowls, a Northwest ISD trustee. Ericka Lomick is the sole Democrat to file.
No Democrat who represents a North Texas district announced they would not seek reelection.
Looking ahead to the 2026 elections, Democrats will likely try to flip the last two Dallas County statehouse seats held by Republicans. GOP Reps. Morgan Meyer of University Park and Angie Chen Button of Garland have defeated their Democratic challengers in recent general elections. Both are running for reelection.
The Democrat seeking to challenge Meyer will be Allison Mitchell, a business owner. Zach Herbert, an attorney, is challenging Button.
The state Senate
In the Senate, five Republican Senators are not seeking reelection. Three are retiring while two others have resigned after being appointed to state government positions – Brandon Creighton as chancellor of the Texas Tech University system and Kelly Hancock as acting Texas comptroller.
Sens. Brian Birdwell, Robert Nichols and Mayes Middleton are also not seeking reelection. Middleton is seeking the Republican nomination for state attorney general. Nichols is retiring.
Their departures triggered a wave of filings for their open seats and attracted several elected officials seeking higher office.
State Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, has filed for the Republican nomination to the Senate seat held by Birdwell, who announced his retirement earlier this year and was appointed by President Donald Trump to a position in the Pentagon.
Cook is in his third term in the Texas House. He was the Republican Party of Texas’ preferred candidate for House Speaker, but lost to Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock Republican House member who assembled a coalition of Republicans and Democrats.
The district he is seeking includes a slice of Tarrant County and extends south to Waco and west to Eastland.
State Rep. Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin, is seeking the East Texas seat represented by Nichols. Ashby, a bank executive, has represented Texas House District 9 since 2013.
Houston Republican state Rep. Dennis Paul is seeking the Republican nomination to a right-leaning district that includes Galveston, Pearland and a slice of Houston. Paul has been endorsed by President Donald Trump and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Very few left-leaning districts are up for election in 2026, and every incumbent in those seats is seeking reelection. Only one Democratic senator drew a primary challenger, Laredo Sen. Judith Zaffirini, according to the state Democratic Party.