AP Photo/Karen Warren & Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP
U.S. Reps. Christian Menefee, left, and Al Green are competing in the Democratic primary in the 18th Congressional District.
The odds are that voters in Texas’ 18th Congressional District, some of whom are preparing to cast their ballots for U.S. representative for the fourth time in seven months, have seen Democratic Congressmen Christian Menefee and Al Green debate for the one and only time.
Menefee and Green, competing in a May 26 Democratic primary runoff, participated in a televised debate on FOX 26 Monday evening.
The most recent opportunity for voters to see the candidates debate in person passed this Wednesday evening, with only Menefee showing up. The University of Houston’s Au Fiat Civics Club hosted an event to which it had invited both Menefee and Green.
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Joshua Sambrano, the club’s chapter president and organizer of the event, said the group had previously hosted a debate between Menefee and former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards ahead of their January special election runoff to fill the seat of the late U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner.
Sambrano provided Houston Public Media an email chain documenting that the club had first reached out to Green’s campaign on March 30, seeking Green’s participation in a similar debate with Menefee. The club received no response, despite multiple follow-up emails, until just over an hour before the debate was scheduled to start on Wednesday.
“The Keep Al Green in Congress campaign did not ever commit to participating in a debate this evening, as Congressman Green has a longstanding prior engagement hosted by the Harris County Women for Al Green,” the Green campaign said in its statement on Wednesday. “Additionally, the two campaigns had no discussions about any aspect of the debate.”
Houston Public Media reached out to the Green campaign for details about the event with Harris County Women for Al Green but did not receive a response. The main point of contact for Harris County Women for Al Green was listed online as Crystal Webster, who is also listed as the main press contact for the Green campaign itself.
“The event proceeded with my asking Christian Menefee the same questions I was going to ask them both,” said Ambassador Chase Untermeyer, the former U.S. ambassador to Qatar who was the moderator for the planned debate at UH.
The Green campaign’s statement left the door open for what it described as “a properly structured debate mutually agreed upon by both candidates and their respective campaigns.” However, little time remains to arrange another such event before early voting begins May 18.
Green has represented Texas’ 9th Congressional District for more than 20 years. However, in last year’s mid-decade congressional redistricting, state lawmakers removed much of Green’s existing district — including his own home — from TX-9 and placed it in TX-18.
Rather than run again in TX-9, which was redrawn to heavily favor Republicans, Green opted to contest the Democratic nomination for TX-18, entering the primary ahead of the special election runoff between Menefee and Edwards.
The Menefee campaign said Wednesday’s event was the second attempt to schedule a debate in which Green did not participate. The first was a virtual debate, held on March 25 and organized by the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, The Culture Commission and the Houston Progressive Caucus.
“I was proud to talk to young people about what matters to them. Democrats are ready for new leaders who will fight to protect our rights from this Trump administration, to bring down costs, and to give them a fair shot to earn a good living,” Menefee said in a statement, adding that, Wednesday night, “voters heard from one candidate who showed up. I’m in this fight for the long haul, and I’ll keep showing up for TX-18.”
Green has been a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, filing articles of impeachment against him multiple times.