Senate District 6

We come to our first Democratic State Senate seat, District 6.  In it's early incarnations back in the 80s, now-Congressman Gene Green held this Houston seat.  In 1992, Green moves on from the State Senate and Republican Dan Shelley wins the seat.  Unfortunately for Shelley, 2 years later he got struck by the redistricting plague and decided to not run.  That handed the seat to Mario Gallegos, Jr.  Gallegos never faced a Republican opponent until 2008.  Sadly Gallegos died this year, leaving this seat vacant, but he went out on a win, beating his Republican opponent 71% - 29%.

The new Senator for this district is going to be either State Rep. Carol Alvarado or former Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, both Democrats.

2012

President
Obama - 66.4%; 89,849
Romney - 32.5%; 43,931

U.S. Senate
Sadler - 63.8%; 84,914
Cruz - 33.9%; 45,140

Which state will it be?

For the 2012 election, the state that matches the presidential margin the best is Vermont.  Obama's margin in that state was 35.6%; his margin in SD 6 was 33.9%.  Sadler won SD 6 by 29.9%.

Senate District 5

During most of the 90s this seat was held by Democrat Jim Turner, who later went on to become Congressman Jim Turner.  Unfortunately he got caught in the cross hairs of Tom DeLay and his political career came to an end.  After Turner, Steve Ogden won the Senate District 5 seat.  With Ogden's retirement a new Republican takes over, State Rep. Charles Schwertner.  With Schwernter, that'll be at least 3 doctors in the Senate.





2012

President
Romney - 63.1%; 181,385
Obama - 34.5%; 99,176

U.S. Senate
Cruz - 61.4%; 173,527
Sadler - 34.3%; 97,048

Which state was the closest match?

West Virginia.  Romney's margin in West Virginia was 26.76%.  He won SD 5 by 28.6% and Cruz won it by 27.1%.

After looking at 5 Senate districts, even the most densest of Democrats can begin to see the problem that plagues us in this state.  Instead of Senate districts with Republican margins of less than 10%, i.e., states like North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, & Missouri, you're seeing districts with some of the most extreme Republican margins.  The 5 states that gave Romney his largest margins in 2012 were Utah, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Idaho, and West Virginia.  The states most closely matching Senate Districts 1-5? Utah, Wyoming, and West Virginia.