Latest news with #CongressionalDistrict18
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sets special election date to fill vacant US House seat
WASHINGTON - Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Monday that a special election to fill the U.S. House of Representatives seat left vacant by late Rep. Sylvester Turner will take place on Nov. 4. His announcement comes as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., threatened a lawsuit against Abbott last week, alleging that Abbott was holding off on calling a special election date, according to NBC News. Jeffries and other Democrats have claimed that Abbott's delay was intentional to benefit Republicans, who hold a razor thin 220-213 seat majority in the House. Turner represented a heavily Democratic district in Texas. But Abbott said in a statement on Monday that Harris County in Texas needs 'sufficient time' to prepare for the special election. 'No county in Texas does a worse job of conducting elections than Harris County…Safe and secure elections are critical to the foundation of our state,' he said. 'Forcing Harris County to rush this special election on weeks' notice would harm the interests of voters. The appropriate time to hold this election is November, which will give Harris County sufficient time to prepare for such an important election.' Harris County clerk Teneshia Hudspeth wrote in a social media post last week that her office had 'successfully' conducted eight elections since September 2023 in coordination with the Texas Secretary of State's office, the county's Republican and Democratic parties and others. 'We remain fully prepared to conduct the Congressional District 18 election as soon as the Governor issues the order,' Hudspeth wrote in a statement. Last year after Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who previously represented Turner's seat, died in July, Abbott set the election date to fill her seat on Nov. 5, 2024. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott calls for Nov. 4 special election date
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Abbott sets November special election to replace Sylvester Turner in House
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Tuesday set the date for a Nov. 4 special election to fill the late Rep. Sylvester Turner's (D-Texas) House seat, which has been vacant since early March. A statement from the governor stressed a need to give 'sufficient time' for Harris County's election office to prepare, though the office has pushed back against Abbott's claims and Democrats have accused him of slow-walking the process to protect Republicans' slim House majority. 'No county in Texas does a worse job of conducting elections than Harris County,' Abbott said on Monday. 'Forcing Harris County to rush this special election on weeks' notice would harm the interests of voters. The appropriate time to hold this election is November, which will give Harris County sufficient time to prepare for such an important election.' After Abbott made similar claims last week, Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth responded that her office 'remain[s] fully prepared to conduct the Congressional District 18 election as soon as the Governor issues the order.' In a press conference ahead of Abbott's Monday announcement, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) accused Abbot of 'intentionally disenfranchising hundreds of thousands of people in Houston by not calling a special election because he is conspiring to rig the system with House Republican leaders and Donald Trump.' Jeffries reportedly said it was 'very likely' Democrats would pursue legal action. 'The entire country can see what Greg Abbott is up to right now — GOP power in the U.S. House hangs by a thread, and he's unjustly denying nearly 800,000 Texans representation,' Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said in a statement ahead of Abbott's announcement, warning the governor to 'call an emergency election or lawyer up.' The Houston-area seat is a safe Democratic district, and having a blue House seat open could help Republicans with their tight 220-213 majority in the lower chamber, experts said. Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, one of the candidates running for the seat, knocked the 'more than a month of silence' from Abbott before setting a date, and stressed that the timeline will leave the 18th Congressional District without a representative for more than half a year. 'That's 250 days our community will go without a voice in Congress,' said Menefee, suggesting that the delay was an effort to help President Trump and GOP numbers in Congress. 'Nearly 800,000 people live in this district. We deserve urgency. We deserve representation now!' Abbott last year announced a special election roughly two weeks after the mid-July passing of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who previously represented Turner's seat. That contest was set for Nov. 5 of last year, the same day as the general election. Erica Lee Carter, Jackson Lee's daughter, won the special election to fill the vacancy for roughly two months, while Turner, the former mayor of Houston, won the general contest. He passed in early March at the age of 70, just a few months into his House term. — Updated at 7:28 p.m. EDT Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gov. Abbott said Harris County needs more time before calling special election to fill vacant U.S. House seat
AUSTIN (Nexstar) — When asked why he has not called for a special election to fill the vacant seat left by the passing of former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Governor Greg Abbott said Harris County will need 'adequate time' to conduct the election after 'repeated failures' in the past. But Democratic lawmakers at the state and federal level say the Governor is playing politics as U.S. House Republicans hold a slim majority. 'Had I called that very quickly, it could have led to a failure in that election, just like Harris County has failed in other elections, they need to have adequate time to operate a fair and accurate election, not a crazy election, like what they've conducted in the past,' Gov. Abbott said during a live newscast to Nexstar. Harris County elections have drawn scrutiny in the past from lawmakers. An audit of the elections in the county between 2021 and 2022 found 'systemic failures by the Harris County Elections Administrator to properly distribute election supplies, including ballots, train election workers, and maintain the voter roll have contributed to a breakdown in public trust in the Harris County election system.' In 2023, the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 1750, which abolished the role of elections administrator in Harris County and returned the election duties back to the county clerk. Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth said in a statement to Nexstar that since resuming election duties in September 2023, her office has successfully conducted eight elections. 'We remain fully prepared to conduct the Congressional District 18 election as soon as the Governor issues the order,' Hudspeth's statement read. The governor said he will call for the election 'sometime soon,' but Houston-area lawmakers at a news conference at the state Capitol Thursday demanded the governor call for the election now. 'Please call a special election today and let the people vote,' State Rep. Jolanda Jones, D – Houston, said. CD 18 encompasses parts of Houston. A Democrat has represented that area for decades and now Democratic members believe the governor is not calling for a special election because he knows a Democrat will win the seat and chip away at the seven-seat majority the Republicans currently hold in the U.S. House. State Representatives Christina Morales, D – Houston, Charlene Ward Johnson, D – Houston, Lauren Ashley Simmons, D – Houston, and State Senator Molly Cook, D – Houston, were all at the news conference Thursday in solidarity to raise concerns for the people living in CD 18. 'People not only deserve fair representation in these policies that are affecting them, they need constituent services, 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,' Cook said. Ward Johnson added, 'We're losing out on funding and an important vote that impacts our district. We need someone in congressional district 18 that's going to be our voice.' House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D – New York, told reporters this week that House Democrats would likely sue if the governor does not call for a special election. Gov. Abbott is the only person who can call for the election and has no formal deadline to do so. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
