Democrat Christian Menefee wins election for US House, narrowing GOP's slim majority

Source: AP

By JOHN HANNA
Updated 10:28 PM CST, January 31, 2026

Democrat Christian Menefee won a Texas U.S. House seat in a special election Saturday that will narrow Republicans’ already-slim majority, telling President Donald Trump that the Democratic district “topples corrupt presidencies.”

Menefee, the Harris County attorney, prevailed in a runoff against Amanda Edwards, a former Houston City Council member. He will replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, who died in March 2025.

The seat representing the heavily Democratic Houston-based district has been vacant for nearly a year.

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t schedule the first round of voting until November. Menefee and Edwards were the top vote-getters in a 16-candidate, all-parties primary. They advanced to a runoff because no candidate won a majority of the vote.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/congress-special-election-houston-redistricting-59fe9c414540572bb783b5e98eb586e1