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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 each represents a single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 940,000 per constituency, based on the 2020 U.S. Census. Texas Senate districts contain the second largest electorate per member for a legislature in the United States (slightly under the 988,000 per California State Senator). Elections are held in even-numbered years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
Senators serve four year terms, with no term limits. Senators are divided into two groups based in part on the intervening Census:
- In elections in years ending in "2" (the election after the Census), all 31 seats are up for election.
- Once the Senate meets in session after said election, the Senators will participate in a drawing to determine their election cycle:
- One-half will have a 2-4-4 cycle, whereupon the seat would stand for election after two years (the year ending in "4"), then again in four years (the year ending in "8"), then finally in another four years (coinciding with all seats standing for election in the year ending in "2").
- The other half will have a 4-4-2 cycle, whereupon the seat would stand for election after four years (the year ending in "6"), then again in four years (the year ending in "0"), then finally in only two years (coinciding with all seats standing for election in the year ending in "2").
As such, every two years, almost half of the senate is up for election.
The Senate meets at the Texas State Capitol in Austin. The Republicans currently control the chamber, which is made up of 20 Republicans and 11 Democrats.
