Houston’s legislative election is headed to a runoff between two leading local Democratic politicians. The two deaths left the seats vacant for much of this term.
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The race for Texas’ vacant 18th Congressional District seat heads to a runoff between two Democrats, with Deputy Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee and former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards in first and second place, but neither is expected to receive more than 50% of the vote.
Mr. Menefee received nearly 33% of the vote, Mr. Edwards nearly 25%, and just over half of the votes had been counted hours after polls closed, according to the New York Times and Houston Chronicle. The Houston Chronicle predicted all 17 constitutional amendments on the ballot would pass.
In the 18th District election, Democrat Jolanda Jones ran for third place with approximately 19% of the vote, while Republican Carmen Maria Montiel received approximately 7% of the vote. Of the dozen or so candidates who remained, no one scored more than 5%.
The showdown between Menefee and Edwards in January represents yet another speed bump in the Democratic district’s tumultuous recent history. The House seat has been unrepresented for nearly half of the past two years, following the deaths of two former congressmen who are longtime veterans of Democratic politics.
The winning camp will have little time to acclimatize before having to switch back into action mode in March, when primaries will be held on the newly redrawn boundaries before the 2026 midterm elections.
Among a field of more than a dozen candidates, Deputy Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards and state Rep. Jolanda Jones were among the frontrunners in the months leading up to the Nov. 4 election.
Democratic Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor and longtime Texas lawmaker, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2024, but died less than two months after taking the oath of office. Turner, 70, died of bone cancer in March 2025, hours after attending President Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress.
He had won the seat held by former Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for the remainder of her term. Jackson Lee, a stalwart of progressive House Democrats, died in July 2024 at the age of 74. Jackson Lee and Turner were members of the Congressional Black Caucus and contributed to the 18th District’s reputation as a center of black political power.
The district, which includes large swaths of Houston, has been unrepresented for nearly eight months since Turner’s death. Democrats are accusing Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott of delaying the special election, leaving Democratic-leaning House seats vacant for the 2024 session.
The race for the vacant seat was a crowded one, with 16 candidates running, including Democrats, Republicans, and independents who are expected to win.
The turmoil in the 18th Congressional District is not expected to subside even after the run-off elections, as both congressmen have passed away within a year of each other. The seat will go into a midterm primary in March 2026 with a dramatically different congressional map after the Texas Republican Party’s controversial redistricting push last summer sparked a national reaction.
A University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs poll released just days before early voting began on Oct. 20 found Menefee and Edwards in a close race. Opinion polls had predicted that a runoff election in January was likely.
Kathryn Palmer is USA TODAY’s political reporter. She can be reached at the following address: kapalmer@usatoday.com And to X@Kathryn Purml.
