Date set for Texas special election runoff featuring Black Catholic congressional hopeful

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has scheduled a special election runoff to determine the late Rep. Sylvester Turner’s successor in the 18th congressional district, a seat vacant since his death in March.

No candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round, held earlier this month. Two Democrats, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee and former Houston city councilwoman Amanda Edwards, advanced to the runoff, which is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026.

“Make sure you tell your family members, your friends, your neighbors, your colleagues so that they too can go out and make their voice heard,” said Edwards, a Black Catholic, in a video shared online after Abbott’s announcement on Nov. 17.

“This district has gone far too long without its voice.”

The runoff will have the special election process concluding nearly a full year since Turner’s death, which came just two months after he took office. He succeeded Erica Lee Carter, the daughter of 15-term incumbent Sheila Jackson Lee, who died from cancer while running for re-election in July 2024. Lee Carter won a special election that fall to complete the final two months of her mother’s term; she did not run in the general election held the same day, which Turner won in a landslide.

The rapid succession of incumbents in the district will now leave voters selecting their fourth representative in less than 18 months, even as Republican redistricting threatens to further complicate the Houston-area 18th district seat.

Edwards and her runoff opponent Menefee have condemned the mid-decade GOP gerrymander passed by the Texas legislature over the summer, which prompted a weekslong Democrat walkout. The new maps would eliminate the Democrat majority in the neighboring 9th district, currently represented by 78-year-old Rep. Al Green, a progressive who has himself served 11 terms in Congress and will reside in the redrawn 18th district if the maps hold.

Edwards, Menefee, and Green have declared for the 2026 midterm election in the 18th district, with Edwards officially filing for the race this week. At the same time, activist groups have pursued legal avenues to potentially block the new Republican-friendly maps, which advocates say intentionally dilute the voting power of Black and Latino voters across Texas.

On Nov. 21, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily blocked a ruling from a panel of federal judges that said Texas must keep its current congressional maps for the 2026 midterm elections. A final decision from the conservative-majority high court is expected in the coming days.

“More uncertainty for voters of the 18th Congressional District has been reintroduced as the Supreme Court has temporarily blocked (at least for the next few days) the lower court ruling rejecting the racially gerrymandered maps,” Edwards said on social media.

“We need the Supreme Court to do the right thing!”

As it stands, the winner of the Edwards-Menefee runoff in January will face an undetermined slate of opponents in the Democratic primary for the midterms. That election will take place just five weeks later on Tuesday, March 3—almost exactly a year since the death of Rep. Turner.

Early voting for the special election runoff begins Wednesday, Jan. 21, while early voting for the 2026 primary begins Tuesday, Feb. 17. The final day to register to vote for the primary is Monday. Feb. 2, while candidates have until Monday, Dec. 8, to file to appear on their respective party’s ballot.

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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