[1] With 58% of voting age people turning out, all existing seats were held by their respective parties with one exception, the Democrats picking up the 23rd District.

[2] In April, Republican U.S. Representative Lamar Smith argued that the seats should be evenly split between the parties in order to reflect Texas's growing Hispanic population and abide by the Voting Rights Act.

[3] Also in April, the Mexican American Legislative Caucus filed a lawsuit against Governor Rick Perry and the state of Texas, seeking to halt redistricting based on census data which allegedly failed to count up to 250,000 Hispanic residents of colonias.

[4] Later in April, Democratic U.S. Representative Lloyd Doggett released a map which he alleged had been submitted by Republican members of Congress to leaders of the Texas Legislature.

[5] In May, state representative Burt Solomons, a Republican, expressed concern that the legislature would not produce a congressional redistricting map by May 30, when it was scheduled to adjourn, and that a special session would be necessary.

[8] On May 25, Seliger confirmed that the legislature would not pass redistricting legislation, and that a congressional map would be drawn either by a federal court or in a special session.

[12] On May 31, the first day of the special session, redistricting was added to the list of matters to be addressed and Seliger and Solomons released a proposed congressional map.

Democratic state representative Marc Veasey and Nina Perales of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund criticized the plan, which they said failed to increase the number of minority opportunity districts.

[13] Democratic U.S. Representative Gene Green filed a lawsuit against the map, alleging that it would neglect Hispanic population growth primarily in Harris County.

[21] On September 13, the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice said that, based on a preliminary investigation, the map appeared to have been "adopted, at least in part, for the purpose of diminishing the ability of citizens of the United States, on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group, to elect their preferred candidates of choice to Congress" and would have a discriminatory effect.

[24] However, three days later, Greg Abbott, the Texas Attorney General, announced that the state would file for an emergency stay from the U.S. Supreme Court.

[30] There was speculation that Hall might retire due to his age - he was 89 years old - and a closer than usual primary in 2010 (though he still won with 57% of the vote).

Newspapers Democrat Sheila Jackson Lee, who had represented Texas's 18th congressional district since 1995, ran for reelection.

Neugebauer, considered perhaps the most conservative of all House members, faced opposition in his primary from Chris Winn, the former Lubbock County GOP chairman.

Newspapers Republican incumbent Pete Olson, who had represented Texas's 22nd congressional district since 2009, ran for re-election.

Rogers was disavowed by some local Democrats for her controversial platform,[97] which included impeaching President Obama and colonizing outer space.

On March 5, 2012, Patrick McGehearty, a computer scientist, dropped out of the Democratic primary to support his wife through a medical problem.

Organizations Newspapers Republican Michael Burgess, who had represented Texas's 26th congressional district since 2003, ran for re-election.

[128] Cuellar lost four counties and was held to 56 percent of the general election vote in 2010, when he defeated the Republican Bryan Keith Underwood.

In Tarrant County, the district includes parts of Arlington, Forest Hill, Fort Worth, Grand Prairie, Haltom City, Saginaw and Sansom Park, and all of Everman.

[112] In the Republican primary, conducted May 29, 2012, Narvaiz won and avoided a runoff by obtaining 51.78% of the votes cast.