2006 Texas elections

The 2006 Texas General Election was held on Tuesday, 7 November 2006, in the U.S. state of Texas. Voters statewide elected the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Commissioner of the Texas General Land Office, Commissioner of Agriculture, and one Railroad Commissioner. Statewide judicial offices up for election were the chief justice and four justices of the Texas Supreme Court, and the presiding judge and two judges of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Elections were additionally held for the United States Senate, U.S. House of Representatives, Texas Senate, and Texas House.

Democratic and Republican candidates were selected in party primaries held 7 March 2006. In races without a majority, the runoff elections were held on 11 April 2006.

Libertarian candidates were selected at the Texas Libertarian Convention 10 June 2006 in Houston (the Libertarian Party does not use a primary system to select candidates).

Independent candidates had 60 days after the primaries are over (from 8 March, one day after the primary election, to 11 May 2006) to collect the necessary signatures to secure a place on the ballot. For statewide elections, state law proscribes the collection of one percent of voters casting ballots in the prior gubernatorial election (for 2006, this equates to 45,540 signatures) from registered voters that did not vote in either primary or any runoffs. If there was a primary runoff for the office an independent candidate is seeking, the petition process shrank to only 30 days, from 12 April (one day after the runoff elections) to 11 May 2006.

Attorney general
Incumbent Attorney general Greg Abbott ran for re-election, winning by a 22% margin.

Chief Justice, Unexpired term

 * Republican : Wallace Jefferson, Incumbent
 * Libertarian : Tom Oxford
 * Green (Write-in) : Charles E. Waterbury

Justice, Place 2

 * Republican : Don Willett, Incumbent
 * Democrat : William E. Moody
 * Libertarian : Wade Wilson

Justice, Place 4

 * Republican : David M. Medina, Incumbent
 * Libertarian : Jerry Adkins

Justice, Place 6

 * Republican : Nathan Hecht, Incumbent
 * Libertarian : Todd Phillipp
 * Independent (declared) : Petition deadline has passed for ballot access, but may run as write-in candidate
 * William W. McNeal

Justice, Place 8, Unexpired term

 * Republican : Phil Johnson, Incumbent
 * Libertarian : Jay H. Cookingham

Presiding Judge

 * Republican : Sharon Keller, Incumbent
 * Democrat : J.R. Molina

Judge, Place 7

 * Republican : Barbara Parker Hervey, Incumbent
 * Libertarian : Quanah Parker

Judge, Place 8

 * Republican : Charles Holcomb, Incumbent
 * Libertarian : Dave Howard

Legislative elections
Sixteen Texas Senate seats and all 150 Texas House of Representatives seats are up for election in 2006. The senators and representatives elected in 2006 served in the Eightieth Texas Legislature, while the senators also served in the Eighty-first Texas Legislature.

Texas Senate
Fifteen of the sixteen elections for the Texas Senate were contested to some extent. In the District 3 race, Robert Nichols won his Republican primary and will be unopposed in the fall election.

Texas House of Representatives
In the Texas House of Representatives, 118 of the 150 seats were be contested in the November 2006 election. Thirty races will be uncontested after the primary elections on 7 March 2006; the remaining two will be determined in the primary runoffs on 11 April 2006.

State Board of Education
Only contested elections are listed.

Member, State Board of Education, District 3

 * Republican : Tony Cunningham
 * Democrat : Rick Agosto

Member, State Board of Education, District 5

 * Republican : Ken Mercer
 * Libertarian : Bill Oliver

Member, State Board of Education, District 9

 * Republican : Don McLeroy, Incumbent
 * Democrat : Maggie Charleton

Member, State Board of Education, District 10

 * Republican : Cynthia Dunbar
 * Libertarian : Martin Thomen

Member, State Board of Education, District 12

 * Republican : Geraldine "Tincy" Miller, Incumbent
 * Libertarian : Matthew Havener

Member, State Board of Education, District 15

 * Republican : Bob Craig, Incumbent
 * Libertarian : Brandon Stacker

Courts of Appeal District elections
Only contested elections are listed.

Place 9

 * Republican : Elsa Alcala, Incumbent
 * Democrat : Jim Sharp

Place 2

 * Republican : Alan Waldrop, Incumbent
 * Democrat : Jim Sybert Coronado

Place 5

 * Republican : David Puryear, Incumbent
 * Democrat : Mina A. Brees

Place 6

 * Republican : Bob Pemberton, Incumbent
 * Democrat : Bree Buchanan

Place 3

 * Republican : Rebecca Simmons, Incumbent
 * Democrat : Richard Garcia, Jr.

Place 4

 * Republican : Steve Hilbig
 * Democrat : Dan Pozza

Place 5

 * Republican : Karen Angelini, Incumbent
 * Democrat : Lauro A. Bustamante

Place 7

 * Republican : Phylis Speedlin, Incumbent
 * Democrat : Eddie DeLaGarza

Place 2

 * Republican : Bailey C. Moseley
 * Democrat : Ben Franks

Place 2

 * Democrat : Federico "Fred" Hinojosa, Incumbent
 * Republican : Rose Vela

Place 6

 * Republican : Richard Edelman, Incumbent
 * Democrat : Leora T. Kahn