What are the qualifications to be a member of the Texas House and Senate?

The legislature consists of two chambers: a 31-member Senate and an 150-member House of Representatives.  There are currently three vacancies in the House. The Texas State Legislature maintains age requirements for candidacy; Senate: 26 years of age, House: 21 years of age.

Texas Demographic Background

The largest generations in Texas are the Millennial Generation and Baby Boom Generation.1 The former comprises roughly 24% of the population and the latter 23%.2 The smallest generation is the Silent Generation, consisting of about 9% of the population. About 42.90% of people in Texas are White, 11.70% are Black or African American, 39% are Hispanic or Latino, and about 6.5% identify as other or two or more races/ethnicities.3

Millennials represent almost 11% of all members of the Texas House of Representatives, and are not represented at all in the Texas Senate. The largest generation represented in the Texas State Legislature is Generation X, comprising almost 47% of the Texas House of Representatives, and about 26% of the Texas Senate. This is unusual for state legislatures studied by YELP so far, as Baby Boomers are overrepresented in most other state legislatures.

Generations in the Texas State Legislature

Generational Breakdown of the Texas House of Representatives

Note: *Indicates state legislators for whom there is no birth date on record.

• The average age of the Texas House of Representatives is 52.7
• The youngest member is 29 (James Talarico)
• The oldest member is 80 (Senfronia Calpernia Thompson)
• Five individuals are Young Elected Leaders
  • Justin A. Holland, 34
  • John H. Bucy III, 34/35
  • Briscoe Cain, 34
  • Erin Zwiener, 35
  • James Talarico, 29

Generational Breakdown of the Texas Senate

Note: *Indicates state legislators for whom there is no birth date on record.

• The average age of the Texas Senate is 61.3
• The youngest member is 48 (Charles Brandon Creighton)
• The oldest member is 76 (Bob Hall)
• There are no Young Elected Leaders

Female legislators are on average a bit more than 2 years older than their male colleagues. About 22% of members in the Texas House of Representatives and 29% of members in the Texas Senate are women.  There are 4 male and 1 female Young Elected Leader in the Texas House of Representatives.

Gender of the Texas House of Representatives

Gender by Generation in Texas House of Representatives

Gender of the Texas Senate

Gender by Generation in Texas Senate

Almost 54% of members of the Texas House of Representatives are White/Caucasian, followed by about 20% being Hispanic/Latino.  15 Representatives (10.20%) are Black/African American. We do not have data on the racial/ethnic identity of 20 members in the House (13.61%). Three of the Young Elected Leaders in the House are White/Caucasian, we do not have information on ethnicity for the other two.

In the Texas Senate, 68% of members are White/Caucasian and 19% are Hispanic. Two Senators are Black/African American. There is missing information on two Senators.

Ethnicity of the Texas House of Representatives

Ethnicity by Generation in Texas House of Representatives

Ethnicity of the Texas Senate

Ethnicity by Generation in Texas Senate

A majority of the Texas House of Representatives and State Senate are Republicans. Of the 5 Young Elected Leaders throughout the House, 3 are Democrats and 2 are Republicans.

Partisanship of the Texas House of Representatives

Partisanship by Generation in the Texas House of Representatives

Partisanship of the Texas Senate

Partisanship by Generation in the Texas Senate

1. The Young Elected Leaders Project collects and analyzes data on young elected officials across the country.  We define Young Elected Leaders as officials 35 years and younger. We define the generations following the Pew Research Center:

• Generation Z: 1997-2012
• Millennial Generation: 1981-1996
• Generation X: 1965-1980
• Baby Boom Generation: 1946-1964
• Silent Generation: 1928-1945

2. Single Years of Age and Sex, 2010, US Census.

3. Demographic and Housing Estimates (Age, Sex, Race, Households and Housing, …) 2017, US Census.

This analysis is based on data from March 2019 and was conducted on May 11, 2019.

You can find our previous analysis of the Texas state legislature from 2016 here.