In increasingly diverse Texas, the Legislature remains more often than not white and male

Every two years, The Texas Tribune compiles the demographics of the Texas Legislature. Every 2 years, the headline is the same.

One time over again, the disparities betwixt the makeup of the Legislature and the people they are elected to stand for are stark: In a state where people of color are in the majority, almost ii out of every three lawmakers are white. And not even a quarter of them are women.

Meet the 86th Legislature, starting with its newest members:

In that location are 27 new representatives:
17 Democrats and 10 Republicans

Michelle Beckley

Michelle Beckley Carrollton

Rhetta Andrews Bowers

Rhetta Andrews Bowers Rowlett

John Bucy

John Bucy Austin

Gina Calanni

Gina Calanni Katy

Sheryl Cole

Sheryl Cole Austin

Alex Dominguez

Alex Dominguez Brownsville

Jessica González

Jessica González Dallas

Vikki Goodwin

Vikki Goodwin Austin

Julie Johnson

Julie Johnson Carrollton

Terry Meza

Terry Meza Irving

Leo Pacheco

Leo Pacheco San Antonio

Ana-Maria Ramos

Ana-Maria Ramos Richardson

Jon Rosenthal

Jon Rosenthal Houston

Carl Sherman

Carl Sherman DeSoto

James Talarico

James Talarico Round Stone

John Turner

John Turner Dallas

Erin Zwiener

Erin Zwiener Driftwood

Steve Allison

Steve Allison San Antonio

Keith Bell

Keith Bell Forney

Brad Buckley

Brad Buckley Killeen

E. Sam Harless

Due east. Sam Harless Spring

Cody Harris

Cody Harris Palestine

Ben Leman

Ben Leman Iola

Mayes Middleton

Mayes Middleton Wallisville

Candy Noble

Candy Noble Lucas

Jared Patterson

Jared Patterson Frisco

Reggie Smith

Reggie Smith Van Alstyne

There are six new senators:
three Democrats and three Republicans

Beverly Powell

Beverly Powell Burleson

Nathan Johnson

Nathan Johnson Dallas

Carol Alvarado

Ballad Alvarado Houston

Pat Fallon

Pat Fallon Frisco

Pete Flores

Pete Flores Pleasanton

Angela Paxton

Angela Paxton McKinney

More half of the Legislature's new members are men. Merely most of the new members are Democrats. 2 of the newest members of the Senate — Democrat Carol Alvarado and Republican Pat Fallon — previously served in the House.

Notably, the add-on of Democrats Julie Johnson, Jessica González and Erin Zwiener increased the number of legislators who identify as members of the LGBT community from two to five.

Ii incoming House members are not listed higher up because they previously served in the House.

Even if all of the 168 women who have been elected to the Texas House or Senate were alive today, they still would be unable to fill all 181 seats in the Legislature.

And though their overall count is growing, women remain incredibly outnumbered in the Texas Legislature— just 42 seats in the House and Senate are currently held past women.

The dearth of female legislators is near notable among the Republican ranks. GOP lawmakers control 102 seats in the Legislature merely merely 12 of those seats are filled by women. Republican women fare far better in the Senate, where they hold almost a third of the GOP-held seats. But their numbers accept steadily dwindled in the Business firm in recent years, dropping to six this yr.

When House members were sworn in Tuesday, at that place were more men named "John" than there were Republican women.

Strikingly, the Republican delegation in the Texas Senate this yr volition non exist entirely white.

The GOP added to its modest legislative multifariousness with the election of Pete Flores, the first Hispanic Republican state senator. But the number of Republicans in the Legislature who are people of color really dropped from five in the last legislative session to four this fourth dimension around.

Meanwhile, Texas voters more than doubled the count of white Democrats in the Legislature, halting a years-long decline. Those gains were largely fabricated in the GOP-held seats that flipped to Democratic control in November.

Overall, people of color — long a majority in the state — remain significantly underrepresented in the Legislature.

Autonomous freshman state Rep. James Talarico, 29, was sworn in on Tuesday as the youngest member of the Legislature, but he's largely an outlier.

Overall, members of the Legislature are more probable to exist older. In the House, the median age sits at fifty while in the Senate it's at 58. At that place's a 51-year difference betwixt Talarico and Autonomous state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, the longest-serving woman in land history, who just turned lxxx.

Despite the elections of Talarico and other young state representatives, the share of seats held past lawmakers aged twenty to 34 actually dropped compared to the terminal legislative session, while the share of seats held by senior citizens increased.

A quarter of Texans ages 25 or older only have high school diploma, but a vast majority of legislators take a college degree. In the Legislature — where roughly one out of every three lawmakers is an chaser — most take postgraduate degrees.

The religious beliefs of state representatives and senators often guide policymaking at the Capitol, where most lawmakers practise some form of Christianity.

More lawmakers identified every bit Cosmic than any other denomination. One lawmaker said he was agnostic. Another lawmaker said she had no religious affiliation.