No Competition: More than 20% of Texas House members running unopposed in 2024

Roughly 22% of incumbent Texas House representatives are running for reelection unopposed in 2024.

The majority of those, 30, are Democrats; four are Republicans. None of 34 incumbents have primary challengers on the March 2024 ballot; none are running against candidates of opposing parties in the general election in November 2024.

The Center Square analyzed a list of candidates who filed to run for office published by the Texas Secretary of State’s Office to calculate the number.

Incumbent Democratic Texas House members who are running unopposed for reelection in 2024, according to the data, are:

District 35 Oscar LongoriaDistrict 36 Sergio Muñoz, Jr.District 38 Erin GamezDistrict 40 Terry CanalesDistrict 42 Richard Peña RaymondDistrict 46 Sheryl ColeDistrict 48 Donna HowardDistrict 49 Gina HinojosaDistrict 51 Lulu FloresDistrict 75 Mary GonzálezDistrict 78 Joe MoodyDistrict 79 Claudia OrdazDistrict 90 Ramon Romero, Jr.District 92 Salman BhojaniDistrict 95 Nicole CollierDistrict 101 Chris TurnerDistrict 102 Ana-Maria RamosDistrict 103 Rafael AnchíaDistrict 104 Jessica GonzálezDistrict 110 Toni RoseDistrict 111 Yvonne DavisDistrict 120 Barbara Gervin-HawkinsDistrict 123 Diego BernalDistrict 135 Jon RosenthalDistrict 137 Gene WuDistrict 140 Armando WalleDistrict 141 Senfronia ThompsonDistrict 143 Ana HernandezDistrict 144 Mary Ann PerezDistrict 145 Christina Morales

Four incumbent Republicans also are running unopposed in heavily Republican districts, according to the data.

One is Cecil Bell, Jr., in District 3, representing portions of the primarily Republican counties of Waller and Montgomery, north of Houston.

Another is Ryan Guillen in District 31, who was first elected in 2003 as a Democrat but left the Democratic Party in 2022, and won reelection for the first time as a Republican. His formerly Democratic-leaning district is now Republican-leaning, which stretches from rural border counties in the Rio Grande Valley to just south of San Antonio.

Two west Texas incumbent Republican House representatives are running unopposed: Brooks Landgraf and Tom Craddick. Both represent rural west Texans who primarily work in the agricultural and oil and natural gas fields.

Landraf’s District 81 includes Ector, Loving, Ward, and Winkler counties; Craddick’s District 82 covers Dawson, Martin and Midland counties.

Three of these four Republicans voted against impeaching Attorney General Ken Paxton: Bell, Craddock and Guillen.

Landgraf is the only Republican in the Texas House who voted to impeach Paxton who isn’t being primaried by another Republican and who has no Democratic challenger in 2024.

He was among 60 Republicans who voted to impeach Paxton in May. After the Senate voted to acquit Paxton, several House members announced they weren’t running for reelection. But the majority of 60 Republicans who did vote to impeach and are running for reelection are being primaried by another Republican or multiple Republicans or have Democratic challengers in 2024. They also represent Republican-leaning districts.

The Secretary of State’s Office published a list of all candidates who filed to run for office after the Dec. 11 filing deadline who are on the ballot next year. They include candidates running for Railroad Commissioner, the Texas Supreme Court, Texas Criminal Court of Appeals, State Board of Education, and both houses of the state legislatures.

All 150 seats of the Texas House are up for reelection in 2024. Because of redistricting and the fact that Texas Senate seats have staggered terms, only 15 seats in the upper chamber are on the 2024 ballot.