The 2012 Texas elections were held on November 6, 2012. Primary elections took place on May 29, 2012. Runoff elections took place on July 31, 2012.

Federal offices

President of the United States

Texas had 38 electoral votes in the

Electoral College An electoral college is a body whose task is to elect a candidate to a particular office. It is mostly used in the political context for a constitutional body that appoints the head of state or government, and sometimes the upper parliament ...

, which went to Republican presidential candidate

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

United States Class I Senate Seat

Incumbent Republican Senator

Kay Bailey Hutchison Kay Bailey Hutchison (born Kathryn Ann Bailey; July 22, 1943) is an American attorney, television correspondent, politician, diplomat, and was the 22nd United States Permanent Representative to NATO from 2017 until 2021. A member of the Republic ...

retired and did not seek re-election for a fourth full term. Republican

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...

won the seat, defeating

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Paul Sadler Paul Lindsey Sadler (born April 29, 1955) is an American Lawyer, attorney from Henderson, Texas, now residing in Bandera, Texas who served from 1991 to 2003 in the Texas House of Representatives. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Demo ...

United States House of Representatives

There were 36 U.S. Representative seats up for election in Texas; four more seats than in the 2010 election. The Republican Party won 24 seats, while the Democrats won 12.

Executive

Railroad commissioner

Incumbent Buddy Garcia, who was appointed by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 in the first administration of Donald Trump. He previously served as the 47th governor of Texas fr ...

to fill the vacancy left by Elizabeth Ames Jones, did not seek re-election. Republican

Christi Craddick Christi Leigh Craddick (born July 1, 1970) is an American politician. She is one of three members of the Railroad Commission of Texas, the elected regulatory body over oil, natural gas, utilities, and surface mining first established in 1891. Aft ...

won the election for a six-year term.

Republican primary

=Candidates

= *Becky Berger, geologist *Beryl Burgess, retired industrial lab technician * Warren Chisum,

state representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United St ...

from the 88th District *Joe Cotten, financial adviser *

, oil and gas attorney *Roland Sledge, oil and gas attorney

=Primary results

=Runoff results

Democratic primary

=Candidates

= *Dale Henry, petroleum engineer

=Primary results

General election

=Results

Railroad commissioner (unexpired term)

Incumbent Barry T. Smitherman was elected to the remaining two years of a six-year term following his appointment to fill the vacancy left by Michael L. Williams, who resigned to contest for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

Republican primary

=Candidates

= *Al Lee, retired systems consultant *Elizabeth Murray-Kolb, attorney *Greg Parker,

Comal County Comal County ( ) is a County (United States), county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 161,501. Comal County is known for its rich German-Texan and Eu ...

commissioner * Barry T. Smitherman, incumbent railroad commissioner

=Primary results

=Runoff results

General election

=Results

Judicial

Supreme Court

Place 2

Incumbent Justice

Don Willett Donny Ray Willett (born July 16, 1966) is an American lawyer and jurist serving since 2018 as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was previously a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from 2005 to 2018. ...

was re-elected to a second six-year term.

=Republican primary

Candidates

Steven Wayne Smith Steven Wayne Smith (born October 26, 1961) is a Republican former Texas Supreme Court justice, who was defeated for renomination in 2004 through the active opposition of then-Governor Rick Perry. He was unseated by Paul W. Green. Smith again lo ...

, former justice of the

Supreme Court of Texas The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the Texas Court ...

, incumbent associate justice

Primary results

=General election

Results

Place 4

Incumbent Justice David M. Medina lost renomination in the Republican primary to John P. Devine, who would go on to win the election and a six-year-term.

=Republican primary

Candidates

* John P. Devine, former

Texas District Court The Texas District Courts form part of the Texas judicial system and are the trial courts of general jurisdiction of Texas. As of January 2019, 472 district courts serve the state, each with a single judge, elected by partisan election to a four- ...

judge * David M. Medina, incumbent associate justice *Joe Pool Jr., lawyer

Primary results

Runoff results

=General election

Results

Place 6

Incumbent Justice

Nathan Hecht Nathan Lincoln Hecht (born August 15, 1949) is an American lawyer who served as the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from 2013 until his mandatory retirement December 31, 2024. A Republican from Dallas, Hecht was first elected to the ...

was re-elected to a fifth six-year term.

=Republican primary

Candidates

, incumbent associate justice

Primary results

=Democratic primary

Candidates

*Michele Petty, attorney

Primary results

=General election

Results

Court of Criminal Appeals

Presiding judge

Incumbent Presiding Judge

Sharon Keller Sharon Faye Keller (born August 1, 1953) is the Presiding Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. She is a Republican. Education and early career Born in Texas, Keller graduated from Rice University in Houston in 1975 with a major in phil ...

was re-elected to a fourth six-year-term.

=Republican primary

Candidates

, incumbent presiding judge

Primary results

=Democratic primary

Candidates

*Keith Hampton, defense lawyer

Primary results

=General election

Results

Place 7

Incumbent Judge

Barbara Parker Hervey Barbara Parker Hervey (born June 26, 1953) is a Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals; she holds the Place 7 seat. Background Hervey earned her bachelor's degree in 1975 from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina ...

was re-elected for a third six-year-term.

=Republican primary

Candidates

, incumbent judge

Primary results

=General election

Results

Place 8

Incumbent Judge

Elsa Alcala Elsa R. Alcala, also known as Elsa Spjut (born 1964), is a former Republican official who most recently served (2011–2018) as one of the nine judges of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. She was appointed to the Place 8 on the bench by then ...

was appointed to the

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is the court of last resort for all criminal matters in Texas. The Court, which is based in the Supreme Court Building in Downtown Austin, is composed of a presiding judge and eight judges. Article V ...

in 2011, following the stepping-down of

Charles Holcomb Charles Ruford Holcomb (September 8, 1933 – February 28, 2020) was an American judge who served on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals from 2001 to 2010. Life and career Holcomb graduated from Robert E. Lee High School. He attended Lee Colleg ...

. Alcala was elected to a six-year-term.

=Republican primary

Candidates

, incumbent judge

Primary results

=General election

Results

State Board of Education

All 15 districts of the

Texas Board of Education The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is the branch of the government of Texas responsible for public education in Texas in the United States.

were up for election.

District 1

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

District 2

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

District 3

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

District 4

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

District 5

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

District 6

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

District 7

Republican primary

General election

District 8

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

District 9

Republican primary

General election

District 10

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

District 11

Republican primary

General election

District 12

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

District 13

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

District 14

Republican primary

General election

District 15

Republican primary

Democratic primary

General election

State legislature

All 31 seats in the

Texas State Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate is made up of 31 members, where eac ...

and all 150 seats in the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. There are no Term limits in the United States, term limits. The ...

were up for election. Elected senators and representatives served in the 83rd Texas Legislature.

Texas Senate

All 31 seats of the

Texas Senate The Texas Senate is the upper house of the Texas Legislature, with the Texas House of Representatives functioning as the lower house. Together, they form the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the state of Texas. The Senate ...

were up for election. No seats changed hands, with the Republican Party retained a 19-seat majority over the Democrat's 12 seats. TxSen2012Results

Texas House of Representatives

All 150 seats of the

were up for election. The Democratic Party won seven seats, giving them 55 seats to the Republican's majority of 95. TxHouse2012Election1

Local elections

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

: Incumbent mayor

Lee Leffingwell Shelly "Lee" Leffingwell (born October 13, 1939) is an American environmentalist and politician who served as the 57th mayor of Austin from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, Leffingwell previously served as chair of Austin's Envi ...

was re-elected to a second term. * Corpus Christi:

Nelda Martinez Nelda Martinez (born July 22, 1961) is an American real estate agent and politician who served as mayor of the Texas city of Corpus Christi from 2012 to 2016. Martinez is affiliated with the Democratic Party. Mayor of Corpus Christi, Texas Nel ...

was elected to her first term as mayor. *

Lubbock Lubbock ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Lubbock County. With a population of 272,086 in 2024, Lubbock is the 10th-most populous city in Texas and the 84th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the ...

Glen Robertson Glen Charles Robertson (born 1959) is an American politician who served two terms as mayor of Lubbock, from May 19, 2012 until May 17, 2016. Robertson was an unsuccessful Republican candidate in the runoff election held on May 24, 2016, for Te ...

was elected to his first term as mayor, defeating two-term incumbent Tom Martin.

References

{{2012 United States elections

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...