2026 General Election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Texas Senate District 18

2 candidates, listed alphabetically.

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Candidates

Erica Gillum

Democratic

Work: Realtor, real estate coach and investor; former mayor of Hempstead

Erica Gillum works as a Realtor, real estate coach and investor. She served on the Hempstead City Council from 2020 to 2022 and as mayor of Hempstead from 2022 to 2024.

Sources for Gillum

Erica Gillum - candidate profile, tx-statesen-18 (Branch Politics (branch.vote), Facts summarized from a public page (not copied))

Lois W. Kolkhorst

RepublicanIncumbent

In office now: State Senator, District 18 (since 2014)

Lois W. Kolkhorst has served as State Senator for District 18 in the Texas Legislature since 2014. Official legislature records list the occupation as Business Owner.

Kolkhorst's committees

Health and Human Services (Chair)
Administration
Business and Commerce
Finance
Water, Agriculture, and Rural Affairs
Civil Discourse and Freedom of Speech in Higher Education, Select
Committee on the July 2025 Flooding Events, General Investigating
Disaster Preparedness and Flooding, Select
Sunset Advisory Commission (Chair)
Joint Interim Committee to Study Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells
Windstorm Insurance Legislative Oversight Board

Sources for Kolkhorst

Lois W. Kolkhorst: official member information (Texas Legislature (Texas Senate; Texas House of Representatives; Texas Legislature Online), Public record)
Texas Legislature: current member roster (Texas Legislature (Texas Senate; Texas House of Representatives; Texas Legislature Online), Public record)

Sources

Candidate list and race details

Ballot Certification Report, 2026 November General Election (state and district offices), and Certified List of Write-In Candidates (Texas Secretary of State, Public record)

What's included: U.S. Senate and House, statewide offices and every state legislative district on the ballot.
Everything else: Local races (county, city, school board, judges) and anything else on your ballot are on your official sample ballot: teamrv-mvp.sos.texas.gov.
Candidate lists: As of Wednesday, October 14, 2026.

This is not an official ballot. Confirm your registration, polling place and ballot with your election office through vote.gov.