ASSOCIATED PRESS
Signs to be posted at Harris County polling sites are lined up at election headquarters Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
A large swath of Houstonians will cast their ballots on Jan. 31 to decide who will represent them in the 18th Congressional District, a seat that’s been vacant since early March. A little more than a month later, many of those voters will head right back to the ballot box to pick their nominees for the next two-year term in the district.
Two similar elections within a short span of each other could alone cause confusion for Houston voters. It’s also possible the races and even the electorate could be different, depending on how the U.S. Supreme Court handles Texas’ mid-redistricting case.
“I think voters are going to be very confused,” said Mary Ibarra, a policy and advocacy strategist at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas who is focused on voting rights. “And I think our main goal is to try and get as much public education and public information out as possible, so people know where to look to see where they’re represented or what’s on their ballot.”
Sign up for the Hello, Houston! daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott set the Jan. 31 special election runoff to determine who will complete the term of late U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died in March at age 70. Acting Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee and former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards will go head-to-head for the right to represent the district, at least through 2026.
Just about a month later, on March 3, Texas will hold its primary elections. Voters across the state will cast their ballots to decide the nominees for each major political party for the November 2026 general election — including the Democratic primary for the 18th Congressional District.
State lawmakers earlier this year redraw Texas’ congressional map, altering the boundaries of the 18th District and several others in the Houston area and across the state. A federal court in El Paso on Tuesday blocked the new map from being used in the 2026 elections, determining it likely is an illegal gerrymander based on race. Republican state leaders leaders then appealed to the Supreme Court, which will decide whether the new map or the one from 2021 will be used in next year’s elections.
In interviews this week, both Edwards and Menefee told Houston Public Media they intend to run in the March 3 primary after the runoff in January.
“A lot of our messaging was geared around trying to clear up confusion that voters were encountering because of the redistricting,” Edwards said. “And so now, of course, we will have to clear up that confusion in a different way because some people will not realize that the maps have been overturned and gone back to the original state for the 2021 maps. So we’ll have to be changing our messaging on that.”
Said Menefee: “We’re preparing for any potential outcome, whether that be the current 18th Congressional District or the racist, gerrymandered version of it. What I want is what I think the people across the district want, which is the opportunities to have our communities remain intact and our representation in Congress. So I know best case for me is that I get to keep talking to the same voters about the issues that I’ve been talking about since March, but we’ll be prepared for either outcome.”
If the Supreme Court determines the newly created map can be used next year, Menefee and Edwards could face a challenge from U.S. Rep. Al Green, a fellow Democrat and longtime representative for the 9th Congressional District who has said he will run in whichever district he resides in, pending a Supreme Court decision on the maps.
Voting rights advocacy groups say public information and education is going to be crucial so voters know what they’re voting on — and if they can vote in a given race.
“There are a lot of folks who are already trying to figure out whether or not they actually really want to vote,” said La’Dereka Christian, voting rights outreach coordinator at the Texas Civil Rights Project. “And this is just another way for them to say, ‘Oh, it’s too confusing, it’s too much going on, so I’m just not going to worry about it.’ “
If the Supreme Court reverses the decision and reinstates the new maps, some Harris County residents will be able to vote in one election but not the other and vice versa.
The uncertainty surrounding the congressional district maps, and the tight timeline for preparing for the March primaries, also is causing a scramble for election administrators in Harris County and beyond.
“We’ve tried to take it one election at a time,” Ibarra said. “However the map is drawn, or what district lines are in what way for the March election, that goes into effect for who represents them in 2027. And so, trying to make that distinction is really important.”