This week, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee announced he would be running to replace the late Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner for the 18th congressional seat. Turner died March 5. Former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards also announced a bid.
Gov. Greg Abbott, however, has yet to declare a special election for the seat, and there is no set timeline on when he may do so.
“There is still already kind of a crowded field shaping up. A couple of the top names that have come out so far is Christian Menafee, who’s the Harris County attorney,” said Jasper Scherer, politics reporter for the Texas Tribune. “Menafee has been involved in a lot of voting rights lawsuits and going against the Republican state leadership, going after the local Democratic leaders.
“Amanda Edwards also, former Houston City council member, who has run for the seat before – both against Sylvester Turner and his predecessor, Sheila Jackson Lee. So those are definitely two names to watch there whenever we get a special election.”
The 18th congressional district includes much of Houston and surrounding areas. It’s long been a Democratic stronghold and is expected to remain blue. Other candidates who have announced campaigns for the seat include Isaiah Martin, a former staffer for Jackson Lee, and James Joseph.
“This is an overwhelmingly Democratic district, so it’ll stay in Democratic hands and the winner could end up occupying the seat for decades based on past history with representative (Jackson Lee).”
Hear more stories from the week in Texas politics in the audio player above.
