U.S. Representatives Al Green and Christian Menefee, a pair of Democratic incumbents forced to run against each other in the same Texas district, spent Tuesday zigzagging Houston polling places to court voters in the redrawn Congressional District 18.
Mr. Menefee, one of the youngest members of Congress, represents the district, and Mr. Green, a 78-year-old known for acts of protest at President Trump’s speeches to Congress, is one of the most senior. They advanced to a runoff in March after neither received 50 percent of the vote in a primary showdown that was engineered by the Republican redistricting effort intended to eliminate Democratic districts.
“This is the president’s heavy hand,” Mr. Green said of the redistricting that consolidated Houston’s Black voters and set off a scramble in other states to redraw congressional maps. “He demanded this.”
Greeting residents in the Kashmere Gardens neighborhood, Mr. Green said he expected a close race but believed that voters would reward his two decades in Congress.
Mr. Menefee, 38, won the 18th District seat in a special election earlier this year, defeating Amanda Edwards, who had dropped out of the March primary but remained on the ballot and collected enough votes to prevent either of the other candidates from surpassing the 50 percent threshold.
Making his fifth campaign stop of the day, Mr. Menefee said Gov. Greg Abbott, who signed the gerrymandered map last summer, had thrown the district “under the bus.”
“It’s tragic,” he added.
Mr. Menefee, who has run in four elections over the past 15 months, said that if he were to hold on to the seat, he would honor Mr. Green and rely on the veteran congressman as a mentor.
He added that he would not allow Republican leadership to pit Houston’s Black community against itself.
“I’m not falling for that trap,” he said.
Adam Fontenette, a southeast Houston resident who was canvassing for Mr. Green, said the redistricting battle had left Houston voters without a good outcome, regardless of who wins.
“No matter what, we’re really losing a good person,” said Mr. Fontenette, 51. “They’re both too good. No matter who wins, we lose.”
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