Democrat Christian Menefee wins special election for vacant, deep-blue House seat in Texas

Former Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee has won a special runoff election for a vacant, deep-blue House seat in Texas, NBC News projects, besting former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards in a Democrat-versus-Democrat contest.

Menefee will fill an 11-month vacancy in the Houston-area congressional district formerly represented by Rep. Sylvester Turner until his death in March 2025. Menefee’s partial term will only run through the end of 2026, and he is already competing for a full term in a redrawn district.

After this election, the balance in the House will stand at 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats, with another two red seats and one blue seat still vacant with special elections pending later this year.

Menefee and Edwards advanced to the runoff after earning the most votes — but falling short of a majority — in a crowded, all-party November contest for Texas’ 18th Congressional District, which includes downtown Houston and surrounding parts of Harris County.

There weren’t many issues separating Menefee and Edwards, who both made affordability their key issue. The Houston Chronicle endorsed Menefee, saying both were strong candidates but that his experience as county attorney prepared him better to take on “hostile government overreach.”

Although Menefee will take the seat for the remainder of Turner’s term, he won’t stop campaigning, with the midterm elections and Texas’ March 3 primary fast approaching.

The current version of the district is changing after Texas’ Republican-led redistricting last year. Texas’ new maps come into effect for the regular 2026 election cycle, which includes the upcoming primary election on March 3 and the general election on Nov. 3, but not the special runoff election that took place on Saturday.

The primary field for the new district includes Menefee as well as longtime Democratic Rep. Al Green, whose old 9th District was converted into a Republican-leaning seat. Edwards is also among the Democratic candidates who filed for the regular primary in March.

As of Jan. 11, Menefee had outraised Edwards and had $388,000 on hand. Edwards had $280,000. At the end of September 2025, the most recent period covered by his campaign finance reports, Green had $572,000 in the bank.

Menefee is stepping into a congressional seat that saw two sitting representatives die less than a year apart, leaving it vacant for most of the last two years. Longtime Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s death in July 2024 left it empty until her daughter Erica Lee Carter was sworn in to complete the remainder of Jackson Lee’s term in November of that year. Turner then took office in January 2025 but died only months later.

The district has had a Black representative for more than 50 years, starting with Barbara Jordan in 1973, who was the first Southern Black woman elected to the House of Representatives.