Abbott sets runoff for Sylvester Turner’s House seat for Jan. 31

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has scheduled the runoff election for the vacant House seat in the Lone Star State’s 18th Congressional District for Jan. 31. 

The seat has been vacant since March, when former Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas) passed away. Turner, the former mayor of Houston who was first elected to Congress in November 2024, succeeded the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D), who died the July before. 

A pair of Democrats, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee and former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards, will square off in the January runoff. The two emerged as the top vote-getters from a 16-person field in a special election earlier this month, capturing 32.5 percent and 25.4 percent of the vote, respectively, according to Decision Desk HQ.

Menefee and Edwards acknowledged the scheduled date on the social platform X on Monday. Early voting in the runoff is from Jan. 21-27.

The winner will serve the remainder of Turner’s term, but will also have to gear up for the March 3 Democratic primary. Under new congressional maps Abbott signed into law in August, the 18th District was altered to include much of the previous 9th District, represented by Rep. Al Green (D).

Green, whose Houston-area district was redrawn under the new maps, announced his candidacy for the 18th District’s Democratic nomination earlier this month. Green has represented the 9th District since 2005. 

Republicans hold a 219-214 edge in the lower chamber, with two vacant seats in Texas’s 18th District and Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, where former GOP Rep. Mark Green resigned in July to return to the private sector.

A special election to fill Green’s seat is set for Dec. 2.