Texas

HB 4's five-seat redraw launched the national mid-decade era. A three-judge panel enjoined it as a racial gerrymander on November 18; the Supreme Court stayed the ruling by December 4 and summarily reversed on the merits April 27. Any model that froze on the injunction — or the 2021 lines — ran the wrong geography for the primary.

Nominations require a majority, so March is often just the first round — and May belongs to a smaller, hotter electorate. This year the system unseated a four-term senator who won the first round. A plurality-winner model calls races that Texas hasn't finished deciding.

No party registration exists, but voting in a primary stamps the party on your registration certificate, enters the voter file, and locks you out of the other party's runoff — crossing over is a felony. Then it all resets December 31. Affiliation is real, recorded, and annual.

The county judge presides over the commissioners court — in big counties a pure executive who tries no cases. The Railroad Commission has regulated oil and gas, not trains, since its rail duties left in 2005. Titles here describe history, not function.

Judge, county and district clerks, and treasurer ride midterms; sheriff, tax assessor-collector, county attorney, and constables ride presidential years; JPs split by place number; DAs vary by judicial district. The constitutional section that set this stagger was repealed in 1999 — cycles persist by inertia, and newly created offices land wherever their first election falls.

Just over half the counties run elections through an appointed elections administrator; the rest split duties between the elected clerk and tax assessor-collector. In 2023 the legislature abolished exactly one county's EA office — the threshold was written as 'over 3.5 million,' which is Harris alone — and built state-takeover provisions at 'over 4 million.' The publisher model is per-county, and one county's was changed by name-shaped statute.

2,984 special districts — third most in the nation — do the growth work of unincorporated Texas. New MUDs are launched by developer-controlled confirmation votes and boards elected by a handful of residents; appraisal districts in every county over 75,000 now elect three of nine directors. Whole layers of government exist before the residents do.

The Supreme Court hears civil cases; the Court of Criminal Appeals is a separate court of last resort for criminal — nine members each, all elected statewide and partisan, like nearly every Texas judge down to 796 justice courts. The exceptions run the other way: the new statewide 15th Court of Appeals started appointed, and Business Court judges are appointed outright.