State reference

How does government work in Texas?

Texas’s legislature, governor, courts, local governments and election offices, with a source for every fact.

Facts checked November 5, 2026. Anything we could not verify from a source is left out rather than guessed. Rules change, so confirm deadlines with the official election office.

181

State legislators

Legislature

4 years

Governor’s term

Governor

254

Counties

Local

Seats in the US House

Clerk of the House

Foundation: Constitution of the State of Texas source
In effect since: 1876 source

What may surprise you here

Texas has two courts of last resort: the Supreme Court and a separate Court of Criminal Appeals. source
The Secretary of State is appointed by the governor, serves during the governor’s term, and is not elected. source
Voters pick the lieutenant governor in a separate race from the governor, and the lieutenant governor presides over the Senate. source

Legislature

Name: Legislature source
Senate: seats: 31 source
Senate: term in years: 4 source
House of Representatives: seats: 150 source
House of Representatives: term in years: 2 source
Term limits: None source

Structure set by: Tex. Const. art. III, §§ 1–4.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years: 4 source
Term limit: None source
Next regular election: 2030 source
Lieutenant governor: separate election source
Attorney general: elected source
Attorney general’s term in years: 4 source
Secretary of state: appointed by governor source
Secretary of state’s term in years: 4 source

Courts

Highest court: Supreme Court and Court of Criminal Appeals source
Intermediate appeals court: Courts of Appeals source
Main trial court: District Court source
How high-court judges reach the bench: partisan election source

Local government

Called: county source
How many: 254 source
Cities and towns: Texas has 1,225 municipal governments and no township governments, according to the Census Bureau’s 2022 count. source
Schools: Of 1,079 school systems in 2022, the Census Bureau counted 1,070 as independent school districts. source

Elections

Chief election official: Secretary of State source
Who runs elections locally: county election and voter registration officials source
Primary type: open source
Regular governor elections fall in: even source
Citizen initiatives: no source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Greg Abbott Republican, in office since January 20, 2015. source

US senators for Texas
Senator	Party	Seat	Senator since	Current term ends
John Cornyn	Republican	Class 2	November 30, 2002	January 3, 2027
Ted Cruz	Republican	Class 1	January 3, 2013	January 3, 2031

Members of the House for Texas
Seat	Member	Party	In the House since
District 1	Nathaniel Moran	Republican	January 3, 2023
District 2	Dan Crenshaw	Republican	January 3, 2019
District 3	Keith Self	Republican	January 3, 2023
District 4	Pat Fallon	Republican	January 3, 2021
District 5	Lance Gooden	Republican	January 3, 2019
District 6	Jake Ellzey	Republican	July 30, 2021
District 7	Lizzie Fletcher	Democratic	January 3, 2019
District 8	Morgan Luttrell	Republican	January 3, 2023
District 9	Al Green	Democratic	January 4, 2005
District 10	Michael T. McCaul	Republican	January 4, 2005
District 11	August Pfluger	Republican	January 3, 2021
District 12	Craig A. Goldman	Republican	January 3, 2025
District 13	Ronny Jackson	Republican	January 3, 2021
District 14	Randy K. Weber, Sr.	Republican	January 3, 2013
District 15	Monica De La Cruz	Republican	January 3, 2023
District 16	Veronica Escobar	Democratic	January 3, 2019
District 17	Pete Sessions	Republican	January 3, 2021
District 18	Christian D. Menefee	Democratic	February 2, 2026
District 19	Jodey C. Arrington	Republican	January 3, 2017
District 20	Joaquin Castro	Democratic	January 3, 2013
District 21	Chip Roy	Republican	January 3, 2019
District 22	Troy E. Nehls	Republican	January 3, 2021
District 23	Vacant since April 14, 2026
District 24	Beth Van Duyne	Republican	January 3, 2021
District 25	Roger Williams	Republican	January 3, 2013
District 26	Brandon Gill	Republican	January 3, 2025
District 27	Michael Cloud	Republican	July 10, 2018
District 28	Henry Cuellar	Democratic	January 4, 2005
District 29	Sylvia R. Garcia	Democratic	January 3, 2019
District 30	Jasmine Crockett	Democratic	January 3, 2023
District 31	John R. Carter	Republican	January 7, 2003
District 32	Julie Johnson	Democratic	January 3, 2025
District 33	Marc A. Veasey	Democratic	January 3, 2013
District 34	Vicente Gonzalez	Democratic	January 3, 2017
District 35	Greg Casar	Democratic	January 3, 2023
District 36	Brian Babin	Republican	January 6, 2015
District 37	Lloyd Doggett	Democratic	January 4, 1995
District 38	Wesley Hunt	Republican	January 3, 2023

Boundaries for the 119th Congress, simplified from the Census Bureau cartographic boundary file. For an exact address, use the House lookup.

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Senate seat, Class 1