A special election to fill a U.S. House seat in a heavily Democratic district in Houston is heading for a runoff between the top two-voter getters — Christian Menefee, the Harris County attorney, and Amanda Edwards, a former city councilwoman — after no candidate emerged on Tuesday with a majority, according to The Associated Press.
The 18th Congressional District in Texas, long held by prominent Black political figures, has been vacant since March when Representative Sylvester Turner died just a few weeks after taking office. Gov. Greg Abbott did not immediately call a special election, instead choosing to leave the seat vacant and help Republicans in Washington who are coping with their thin majority in the House.
Now, Democrats will remain a vote shy for another two months. Under Texas law, the runoff will take place in late January, with the exact date to be set by Mr. Abbott later this month.
Both Mr. Menefee and Ms. Edwards are Democrats who have vowed to aggressively take on the Trump administration if elected.
Whoever emerges victorious in January will have to turn around and immediately begin campaigning for re-election in the March primary. And because of Texas’ mid-decade redistricting this summer, the 2026 race will take place in a congressional district that barely resembles the current one.
The district was one of several in Texas cities to be dramatically redrawn by Republican legislators to try to flip five seats that are currently held by Democrats.
The redistricting, which took place during the special election campaigning, has already caused confusion for voters. It is likely to cause more during the next primary, as many who cast votes in the 18th Congressional District on Tuesday will find themselves unable to do so in March.
The district lines were moved from neighborhoods mostly north of downtown Houston, to those mostly in the south. Republican lawmakers sought to pack Democratic voters into an area that had been covered by the Ninth Congressional District, a seat currently held by Representative Al Green, a Democrat.
Mr. Green has said that he would run in 2026 in the newly drawn 18th District and not in the Ninth District, which was moved to a more suburban area to favor Republicans.
That is likely to set up a intergenerational contest between Mr. Green, 78, and whomever of the two younger Democrats, Mr. Menefee, 37, or Ms. Edwards, 43, emerges victorious in the January runoff.
J. David Goodman is the Houston bureau chief for The Times, reporting on Texas and Oklahoma.
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