After nearly a year without congressional representation, voters in Houston are poised to elect a new U.S. House member in a special runoff scheduled for Saturday. At the same time, residents of the Fort Worth region will choose a successor to a recently vacated state Senate seat.
The special election on November 4 featured sixteen candidates vying to fill the seat left open by the passing of Sylvester Turner, the Democratic congressman who died early in his term on March 5, 2025. With no candidate achieving the majority vote threshold required to avoid a runoff, the top two Democratic candidates, Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards, will face off in the upcoming election.
Due to the presence of only two Democrats on the ballot, the party is assured of reducing the Republican majority in the House, at least temporarily. Additional vacancies persist in congressional districts in California, Georgia, and New Jersey.
The victor will represent the Houston area for a limited time, as Texas is implementing new district boundaries for the November midterm elections. The state legislature's redistricting plan, approved over the summer, favors Republican candidates. The existing 18th Congressional District, centered on Houston and fully contained within Harris County in southeastern Texas, will be divided into approximately six new districts. The bulk of the current district’s population will fall under the newly formed 29th District, while the reimagined 18th District will extend into portions of Harris and Fort Bend counties.
Currently, the 18th District is a Democratic bastion in a largely Republican state. Turner and Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president in 2024, each secured about 69% of the vote within the district during their respective elections.
In the November election, Menefee narrowly led Edwards with 29% to 26% of the vote. Jolanda Jones, a state representative and the third-place finisher with 19%, has publicly supported Edwards’ bid. The remaining Democratic entrants accounted for a combined 9% of votes, while Republican candidates together received approximately 15%. Independent and third-party candidates split the remaining 2%.
Christian Menefee received endorsement support from former U.S. Representative Erica Lee Carter, the daughter of Sheila Jackson Lee, a long-serving Democratic congresswoman who served the area for nearly three decades until her death in July 2024. Lee Carter briefly held the seat in 2024 prior to Turner taking office but did not run in the special election.
As of January 11, campaign finance reports indicate Menefee has expended about $1.8 million and maintains $389,000 in campaign funds, while Edwards has spent roughly $1.5 million with $281,000 remaining.
Approximately 300 miles northwest in Tarrant County, voters will elect a new state senator for District 9 to replace Republican Kelly Hancock, who left the position in 2025 to become acting state comptroller. Democrat Taylor Rehmet led the November 4 special election with about 48% of the vote, falling short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff. Republican Leigh Wambsganss secured second place with roughly 36%, while Republican John Huffman followed with 16%. Former President Donald Trump carried the district in 2024, earning approximately 58% of the vote.
The winning candidate from this runoff will serve out the remainder of Hancock's term, although the state Senate is not set to convene again until 2027. Republicans currently hold an 18-11 majority, though two seats previously held by Republicans are currently vacant.
The election results will be monitored and reported with care, with official declarations made only when victory margins eliminate any reasonable chances of a trailing candidate overcoming the lead. Coverage will remain ongoing in the event of close contests, including updates about candidate concessions or self-declared victories, clearly noting when no official winner has been announced and explaining the reasoning.
In Texas, automatic recounts occur solely in the event of a tie. Candidates losing by less than 10% of total votes cast or fewer than 1,000 votes may request a recount, and those involving electronic voting systems can be requested irrespective of margin. The election authorities may declare winners in races eligible for recounts if the lead is substantial enough to render recounts or legal challenges unlikely to alter the outcome.
Polls are set to close at 7 p.m. Central Standard Time (8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time). Registered voters residing within either the 18th Congressional District or state Senate District 9 are eligible to participate in their respective special runoff elections.
Historically, turnout in the November 2025 special election for the 18th Congressional District showed about 20% of the 381,000 registered voters participating, with just over half casting their ballots early or absentee. As of the most recent reports on the Tuesday prior to the runoff, roughly 14,000 ballots had been submitted in the 18th District, while approximately 45,000 votes had been cast for the state Senate District 9 runoff.
Vote counting speeds varied; during the November special congressional election, initial results were available by 8:18 p.m. EST with updates continuing into early morning, culminating in more than 99% of votes tallied by 2:09 a.m. EST. Early and absentee votes usually comprise the bulk of first-night tallies in Harris and Tarrant counties. However, in the upcoming special runoff, a significant portion of early votes from Harris County will be delayed until February 6 due to extensions in early voting periods caused by inclement weather, and those votes will be processed as provisional ballots.
In the November election, Menefee held a lead among early voters at 33% compared to Edwards’ 25%, representing around 48% of total votes. Election Day voters leaned slightly towards Edwards, who received 26%, just surpassing Menefee’s 25%, with Election Day voting accounting for about 49% of the total.