1976 Texas Senate election

← 1974 November 2, 1976 1978 →
16 of the 31 seats in the Texas Senate 16 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic Republican Last election 28 3 Seats won 28 3 Seat change Popular vote 1,267,657 485,449 Percentage 72.25% 27.67% Swing 6.18% 6.11%
Senate results by district      Democratic hold      Republican hold      No election
President Pro Tempore before election Democratic Elected President Pro Tempore Democratic

The 1976 Texas Senate elections took place as part of the biennial United States elections. Texas voters elected state senators 16 of the 31 State Senate districts. The winners of this election served in the 65th Texas Legislature for four-year terms.

Democrats had controlled the Texas Senate since the 1872 elections.[1] Long a part of the Solid South, Republicans had gained a foothold in the state in the past two decades, electing U.S. Senator John Tower in 1961 and electing Richard Nixon with 66% of the vote in 1972, but these gains rarely made much impact in downballot, local races. Democrats had controlled every statewide office since the end of Reconstruction and controlled large supermajorities in the legislature. Even these small numbers were an improvement from the past two decades, however, such as after the 1964 election when they held a single seat in the House and none in the Senate.[2]

Although Democrat Jimmy Carter only narrowly won the state in the concurrent presidential election, Democrats held onto all of their seats in the Senate, maintaining their 28–3 supermajority in the chamber.[3] Due to a recent constitutional amendment increasing the term lengths of most statewide officers from two to four years, this was the first general election in 100 years not to feature them on the ballot.[4]

• Kingston, Mike (1977). Texas Almanac, 1978-1979. Dallas, Texas: The Dallas Morning News.