AUSTIN, Texas — A rally will be held in downtown Austin on Saturday to protest Gov. Greg Abbott’s postponement of the 18th Congressional District special election to Nov. 4, 2025.
According to organizers, delaying the special election will leave nearly 800,000 Texans without representation in the U.S. Congress for over eight months.
In April, Abbott declared Nov. 4 as the special election date for the seat left vacant by the passing of U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner. Missing the deadline to add the 18th District to the ballot prevented a May 3 election.
The seat has been vacant since Turner’s death on March 5.
On April 2, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries threatened to sue Abbott for delaying the special election, according to NBC News.
Christian D. Menefee, who is making a run for the 18th Congressional District seat, posted on X back in April, “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. Why? Because Trump and Elon are pulling his strings to keep control of Congress.”
The rally starts at the Texas Governor’s Mansion and finishes at the state Capitol.
The event is being organized by Turn Left PAC, Mothers for Democracy Action and Mothers Against Greg Abbott.
“This rally comes at a crucial moment – democracy is under attack, the cost of living is skyrocketing, and people across the country are rising up to demand bold, transformative change,” said Texas Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, the legislative sponsor of the event. “Under his (Gov. Greg Abbott) leadership, Texas has enacted one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation, drained public school funding through a $1 billion voucher scheme, and failed to fix the power grid after the deadly 2021 blackout that left millions in the cold and dark.”
The rally will feature a speech by Lucas Neff, who starred in “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
The rally will start at 10 a.m. and the march to the Capitol will start at 10:45 a.m.