How Members Of Congress Would Be Replaced In Worst-Case Scenario

HOUSTON, TX — Texas had the most to lose in Wednesday's Amtrak train crash in Virginia that took one life. The train carrying Republican lawmakers from Washington, D.C. to Greenbrier, West Virginia for a GOP retreat slammed into a garbage truck near Charlottesville, Virginia, killing the passenger in the truck.

Of the 117 lawmakers aboard the train, 13 of them were from Texas — 12 representatives and one senator, Ted Cruz. Texas not only had way more personnel on the train than any other state, the 13 lawmakers represented 11 percent of all Congressmen on the trip.

Wednesday's reported attendance on the train, not including families and staff members, was 117 lawmakers, or roughly 22 percent of the entire Congress. There were 11 senators aboard Amtrak and 106 representatives.

Thankfully for Texas, and the rest of the country, a catastrophic event — or doomsday scene — was averted. The TV show 'Designated Survivor' plays out a scenario where a bomb destroys the capitol on the night of the president's State of the Union speech, and no lawmakers from the top all the way down survive. A designated survivor takes over the presidency and he must appoint a cabinet, vice president and other key personnel.

However, the states typically designate their representatives and senators for Congress. For Texas, that usually goes through a special appointment by the governor or the call of a special election. In this case, that would be Republican Governor Greg Abbott's job to appoint a senator, and that usually is as easy as promoting a sitting representative to the Senate, and then set an election for the representative's seat. In some states, a special election is called for the Senate seat.

Texas has 36 representatives, which means one-third of them were on the train today. Texas would have to call a special election for 12 seats. In all essence, that would probably start a political domino effect as state senators and polished state representatives would most likely throw their names in the hat for a job that pays more than $133,000 a year.

With state seats most likely opening up, it would usher in a new line of folks to county and state positions.

But the lawmakers were safe today, and that has Texans breathing a big sigh of relief.

Here are the Texas lawmakers on the train crash today:Senator Ted Cruz
Rep. Louie Gohmert (District 1 - Tyler)
Rep. John Culberson (District 7 - Houston)
Rep. Kevin Brady (District 8 - Houston, The Woodlands, Conroe, Madisonville)
Rep. Michael McCaul (District 10 — Katy, Cypress, Tomball, Austin)
Rep. Mike Conaway (District 11 - Midland)
Rep. Bill Flores (District 17 - Bryan/College Station)
Rep. Pete Olson (District 22 - Sugar Land)
Rep. Roger Williams (District 25 - West Austin, Cleburne, Gatesville)
Rep. Michael. Burgess (District 26 - Lewisville)
Rep. John Carter (District 31 - Round Rock)
Rep. Pete Sessions (District 32 - Dallas)
Rep. Brian Babin (District 36 - Woodville)

CORRECTION: Earlier reports on this story gave an erroneous number of fatalities. Only the passenger of the truck died.

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