Democrat Christian Menefee wins particular election for U.S. Home in Texas

Democrat Christian Menefee received a Texas U.S. Home seat in a particular election Saturday that can slender Republicans’ already-slim majority, telling President Trump that the Democratic district “topples corrupt presidencies.”

Menefee, the Harris County legal professional, prevailed in a runoff in opposition to Amanda Edwards, a former Houston Metropolis Council member. He’ll substitute the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, who died in March 2025.

The seat representing the closely Democratic Houston-based district has been vacant for practically a yr.

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott did not schedule the primary spherical of voting till November. Menefee and Edwards have been the highest vote-getters in a 16-candidate, all-parties main. They superior to a runoff as a result of no candidate received a majority of the vote.

Chatting with supporters at his victory get together, Menefee promised to combat for common medical insurance, search to question Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and “tear ICE up from the roots.”

He additionally addressed Mr. Trump straight after noting that one of many district’s most storied representatives, Democrat Barbara Jordan, was an eloquent voice for President Richard Nixon’s impeachment forward of his 1974 resignation.

“The outcomes right here tonight are a mandate for me to work as onerous as I can to oppose your agenda, to combat again in opposition to the place you take this nation and to analyze your crimes,” Menefee mentioned.

Menefee will fill the rest of Turner’s time period, which ends when a brand new Congress is sworn into workplace in January 2027.

After Saturday, one more election lies forward in little over a month. Each Menefee and Edwards are on the poll once more on March 3, when they are going to face Democratic Rep. Al Inexperienced in one other election — this one a Democratic main in a newly drawn 18th congressional district, for the complete time period that begins in 2027. Inexperienced at the moment represents the ninth congressional district. 

GOP lawmakers who management Texas state authorities drew a brand new map final summer season for this yr’s midterms, pushed by Mr. Trump to create 5 extra winnable seats for Republicans to assist protect their majority.

Abbott had argued that Houston officers wanted the six months between Turner’s loss of life and the primary spherical of voting to arrange for the particular election, however Democrats criticized the lengthy wait as a transfer designed to present the GOP a barely larger cushion within the Home for troublesome votes.

Whereas campaigning Saturday, Edwards, 44, referenced the lengthy emptiness in a video she posted to social media, saying voters have gone too lengthy with no voice in Washington. Later, she advised supporters at her watch get together that the race “by no means was about successful a specific seat.”

“This journey has all the time been about making a group the place each single particular person in it, it doesn’t matter what their background, regardless of the place they have been from, regardless of the place they lived, would have the chance to thrive,” she mentioned. “Which means entry to well being care. Which means schooling. Which means economics.”

Menefee, 37, was endorsed by a number of distinguished Texas Democrats together with former congressman Beto O’Rourke and Rep. Jasmine Crockett. He was joined Saturday by Crockett, who’s operating for the U.S. Senate.

Menefee ousted an incumbent in 2020 to grow to be Harris County’s first Black county legal professional, representing it in civil circumstances, and he has joined authorized challenges of Mr. Trump’s government orders on immigration.

Edwards served 4 years on the Houston Metropolis Council beginning in 2016. She ran for U.S. Senate in 2020 however completed fifth in a 12-person main. She unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee within the 2024 main, and when Lee died that July, native Democrats narrowly nominated Turner over Edwards as Lee’s alternative.

Menefee completed forward of Edwards within the main, however Edwards picked up the endorsement of the third-place finisher, state Rep. Jolanda Jones, who mentioned Edwards had expertise “greatest suited to go in opposition to Trump.”

Winter climate added to voters’ confusion, forcing native officers to cancel two days of advance voting this week, prompting civil rights group to go to courtroom to win a two-day extension, into Thursday.