The Texas Election Code requires the governor to call a special election to fill a vacant office. Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, allowed two key deadlines to pass that prevented the solidly Democratic seat from being on the May 3 ballot.
| Posted onApril 3, 2025, 4:47 PMFacebookTwitter/XLinkedIn
Five Democratic state lawmakers from Houston are urging Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special election for the vacancy in Texas’ 18th Congressional District after the Republican governor did not put the seat on the May 3 ballot.
State Reps. Charlene Ward Johnson, Jolanda Jones, Christina Morales and Lauren Ashley Simmons, along with state Sen. Molly Cook, gathered Thursday at the Texas Capitol in Austin, where they expressed their concern that residents of the solidly Democratic district in Houston will face repercussions due to a lack of representation in Congress. U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Democrat and former Houston mayor, held the office until his death last month at age 70.
The Texas Election Code requires the governor to call a special election to fill a vacant office. Abbott, a Republican, allowed two key deadlines to pass that prevented the seat from being on the May 3 ballot.
Jones accused Abbott of intentionally delaying a special election.
“The truth is that Governor Abbott is rigging the U.S. Congress to protect Republicans,” Jones said. “My constituents in House District 147 who all reside in the historic 18th Congressional District are without representation.”
Abbott has not commented on his decision to hold off on calling a special election.
Republicans control the U.S. House of Representatives by a margin of five seats. That’s with four vacancies, two of them left by the deaths of Turner and U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona.
Thursday’s news conference came three days after acting Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, who has announced his candidacy for the Congressional seat, attempted to pressure Abbott into calling an election, saying he would sue if the governor doesn’t call one for June.
Menefee is one of two prominent Democrats to announce their candidacy for the vacancy, along with former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards.
Turner succeeded former U.S. Rep. Erica Lee Carter, who finished the four-year term of her mother, late U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who died last July. Erica Lee Carter won a November special election that had been called by Abbott, while Turner won a general election that was on the same ballot.
If Abbott ignores the calls for another special election, potentially leaving the 18th Congressional District without a representative until the next general election in November 2026, Morales said both Republicans and Democrats could be impacted.
“Democrat or Republican, this is not a political problem,” Morales said. “This is a human problem.”
According to the group of Democratic state lawmakers from Houston, a lack of representation in Congress could impact residents on issues such as immigration, taxes and veterans policies.
“People not only deserve fair representation in these policies that are affecting them, they need constituent services,” Cook said. “And right now they are being denied the person who can run point for that district to make sure that folks are drawing down the federal dollars that they need, accessing the services that they have a constitutional right to and being fairly represented in Congress.”