Texas’ 18th Congressional District leadership is in limbo since Congressman Sylvester Turner, who was just sworn in in January, died last month. This left the district’s over 780,000 constituents without representation.
Gov. Greg Abbott, responsible for calling a special election, has not done so yet.
Currently, no state laws mandate a deadline for calling an election. Considering the slim majority in the House of Representatives, many constituents believe the governor will wait to call the election in November 2025.
“An announcement on a special election will be made at a later date,” Abbott’s Press Secretary Andrew Mahaleris told the media.
Last year, Abbott called for a special election for this seat after Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee about two weeks after she died in July.
The state’s next scheduled uniform election date is May 3, but the deadline to add the 18th District race to the ballot has passed.
Leaders demand a special election
State senators Borris Miles and Molly Cook have demanded a special election. In a letter to the governor, Miles invoked the Texas Election Code and wrote, “I am imploring you to set the earliest date possible for the special election for Congressional District 18. The citizens of this district have a right to be represented. They deserve nothing less.”
Miles recalled instances when Abbott chose to “immediately” call a special election:
- 2024, within two weeks of Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee’s death
- 2018, after Rep. Blake Farenthold’s seat was vacated
- 2022, after U.S. Rep Filemon Vela Jr.’s seat was vacated
- 2020, to replace Sen.Pat Fallon
- 2018, after the resignation of Rep. Sylvia Garcia
- 2019, when Sen. Carol Alvarado vacated her state representative seat after winning the seat vacated by Sylvia Garcia
State Rep. Jolanda Jones, who represents District 147, called a press conference demanding a special election and called the lack of leadership in the district “taxation without representation.”
“Barbara Jordan must be spinning in her grave. Congresswoman Jordan not only represented Texas’s historic 18th Congressional District but was also the first Black woman ever elected to Congress in the South,” Jones said. “He [Gov. Abbott] knows that Congressional District 18 will elect a Democrat. That is their choice under the Constitution, Mr. Governor.”
Advocating for the tax-paying constituents of the congressional district, Rep. Christina Morales of District 145 spoke of their constitutional right to representation.
“They are suffering from the results of federal policy that are coming down day after day after day…people not only deserve fair representation in these policies that are affecting them, they need constituent services,” Morales said. “And right now they’re being denied.”
State Reps. Charlene Ward Johnson (District 139) and Lauren Ashley Simmons (District 146) echoed Morales’ sentiments. They argued that constituents of Congressional District 18 are being left “voiceless” and are “losing out” on funding and important votes that impact the district.
“We need someone that’s gonna be our voice,” Johnson said. “We can no longer wait.”
A resident of Acres Homes in the district, Rosie Powell, said her “community is being ignored” and asked for representation.
“Our seat in Congress is empty, and every day that goes by without a representative and decisions are being made about our healthcare, our social security, and our lives with no one there to speak for us,” Powell said. “Does Governor Abbott not care about us too? The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were passed to make sure communities like ours had the right to vote and the right to be represented. But right now, it feels like the Governor is taking us back to the dark days of this country when our voices didn’t matter.”
Candidates request special election
Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee, who is running for the seat, also demanded that Abbott call a special election for the 18th Congressional District.
“The 18th Congressional District has been without representation and Gov. Abbott has said absolutely nothing,” Menefee said. “If Gov. Abbott tries to play fresh and does not call this election for November, I will sue him…don’t play games with our communities. The 18th Congressional District is not a political toy. Your silence is suppression.”
Amanda Edwards, a former at-large City Council member, is running for the seat and has advocated for the district’s representation for the next two years.
“This is going to be the first time in about 30 years that this will be an open primary election,” said the native Houstonian attorney. “We are waiting on Governor Abbott to call a special election for the remaining portion of the term…we don’t know what he will do. We hope that he calls it and does the right thing because representation matters.”
Who is running?
10 candidates have filed to run for the seat, including:
- Christian D. Menefee, Harris County Attorney
- Isaiah Martin, former senior advisor for Sheila Jackson Lee
- Amanda Edwards, former at-large City Council member
- Dr. James Joseph, former director of civic engagement and community outreach for State Sen. Borris Miles,
- Kivan Polmis, former senior policy advisor at the office of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo,
- Cyrus Sanja, a pharmaceutical executive and a venture capitalist
- Derrell Sherrod Turner, an independent candidate
- Khristopher Beal, an independent candidate
- Robert Slater, a Democrat candidate
- Earnest Clayton, a Democrat candidate
