Greg Abbott Delays Calling Special Election In Liberal TX District

By Susie Madrak — April 3, 2025

Hakeem Jeffries is threatening a lawsuit against Greg Abbott for holding off on calling a special election to fill a vacant House seat in Houston, which Democrats say is a deliberate move designed to help pad the House GOP’s razor-thin majority. Via NBC News:

In a response to a question from NBC News on Wednesday, Jeffries said it’s “very likely” that they will pursue litigation against Abbott, who has yet to set a date for an election to replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Texas, after he died in early March. Asked if he thought Abbott was deliberately delaying the the special election in Texas' solidly Democratic 18th District, Jeffries said "yes."

Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary, said in a statement to NBC News on Wednesday: “An announcement on a special election will be made at a later date.” Christian Menefee, the Harris County attorney and Democrat who is planning to run for the seat, has also said he would sue Abbott if he didn’t call for a special election soon.

“Nearly 800,000 Houstonians are without a voice in Congress. Abbott has called emergency elections before—he just doesn’t want to do it here,” Menefee posted on X on Wednesday, accusing Abbott of trying to keep the seat open to benefit the Trump administration and House Republicans. “Congress is voting on critical issues. TX-18 deserves a representative now—not months from now,” Menefee said.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the Democratic House leader, on Monday accused Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas of deliberately delaying a special election in a solidly Democratic district in Houston in order to cushion the House Republicans’ slim majority.

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-04-01T02:16:03.943Z

Texas election code requires governor to call a special election to fill a vacant office no less than 36 days before next election. But state law also requires that candidates be given minimum 40 days to file before the election takes place. That 40-day mark passed at the end of the day on Monday.

— (@leftylady.bsky.social) 2025-03-31T20:31:06.157Z

Gov. Greg Abbott has until the end of the day Friday to call a special election for Texas’ 18th Congressional District to get the race on the ballot for the May 3 election. If he doesn’t, the seat could stay vacant for months.

— Houston Public Media (@houstonpublicmedia.bsky.social) 2025-03-28T18:22:54+00:00

Explore more

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.