Winner of Sylvester Turner’s Texas seat has just weeks before next election
Houston voters are holding a special-election runoff to fill the late Rep. Sylvester Turner’s Texas 18th District seat after nearly a year-long vacancy that Democrats say was prolonged by Gov. Greg abbott’s delay in calling the contest. Democrats Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards advanced from a 16-candidate field in November; Menefee received an endorsement from Erica lee Carter, who briefly held the seat after her mother, Sheila Jackson Lee, died. The runoff winner will be sworn in to finish the term but than must face longtime Rep. Al Green in a March 3 primary for the reconfigured district created by GOP-led redistricting. Democrats warn the winner could serve less than a year if they lose the primary or the November general election, and party leaders are pressing for an immediate swearing-in to restore representation. The outcome has implications for House control and upcoming votes — Speaker Mike Johnson’s Republican majority is razor-thin (214-218), and the new member could affect a looming government funding vote.
Winner of Sylvester Turner’s Texas seat has just weeks before next election
Houston voters participate in a runoff election Saturday to determine who will succeed the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, after nearly a year of a vacant seat, only to turn around and have a primary election just weeks later.
Texans will vote in a runoff election between Democrats Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards to determine who will fill Turner’s seat, almost a year after Democrats accused Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) of stalling on the special election.
Both candidates will then face longtime Rep. Al Green (D-TX), who will be running in Texas’s 18th district after a Trump-backed redistricting effort succeeded, for a primary election on March 3.
Green, who has represented Houston for over two decades, was a civil rights attorney. The longtime Texas Democrat will run in a new district after the GOP redrew congressional lines, aiming to secure five additional Republican seats to hold on to the House majority. The winner of the runoff election, either Menefee or Edwards, faces the prospect of being in office for less than a year should Green beat them in November.
A native Houstonian and lawyer, Edwards was an at-large Houston City Council member. She ran against former Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in a 2024 primary, but Jackson Lee, who had held the seat since 1995, won.
Since then, the seat has been occupied multiple times, following Jackson Lee’ died’s death in July 2024. Her daughter, Erica Lee Carter, was elected to finish her mother’s term, from November 2024 to January 2025. Turner took over the seat in January 2025, only to die two months later. The seat has been vacant since Abbott delayed calling a special election. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) accused Abbott of “slow-walking” the election to preserve House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) slim Republican majority.
Last November, voters went to the polls, where none of the 16 candidates reached the 50% threshold to win the special election. Menefee, who received the endorsement of Erica Lee Carter, advanced to Saturday’s runoff with the most votes, with Edwards following with a margin of a couple of thousand votes.
This special election runoff will make Speaker Johnson’s already razor-slim margins even smaller during a year when even partisan bills can prove tough to pass. This will bring House margins to 214-218, with three vacancies.
Democrats have already begun calling on Johnson to swear in the winner immediately.
“The people of the 18th Congressional District have gone nearly a year without representation, and that must end as soon as possible,” Green said in a statement Thursday. “A government shutdown does not excuse delaying the swearing-in of a duly elected Member of Congress. Constituents deserve immediate representation, and House leadership has a clear responsibility to ensure the voters and voices of Texas’s 18th District are heard without further delay.”
“Tomorrow is Election Day – the last day to vote in the Special Election Runoff to fill our Congressional seat, which has been vacant for far too long!” Edwards wrote on X Friday.
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Jeffries said this week that leadership made it clear to Johnson that “we can never have another Adelita Grijalva situation again.” Rep. Adelita Gijalva (D-AZ) set a record for the longest gap between her special election last year and her swearing-in, 50 days.
Following Saturday’s election, the House will convene to vote on a government funding deal cut by the upper chamber, which will be a tough vote for Johnson, especially with slim margins. It is unclear if House Democrats will support the deal Senate Democrats cut to end the partial government shutdown.
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