Christian Menefee Wins Special Runoff To Finish Sylvester Turner’s Term — Faces Al Green In High-Stakes March Primary

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, a Democrat, won a special runoff on Saturday to serve the remainder of the late Rep. Sylvester Turner’s term, according to projections by The Associated Press.

Menefee defeated attorney and former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards after a drawn-out replacement process following Turner’s March 2025 death. The effort to fill the central Houston seat was delayed in part by Gov. Greg Abbott’s slow call for a special election and by a crowded initial field that forced a November runoff.

Although Menefee has claimed the runoff, the broader contest is far from over. Both Menefee, 37, and Edwards, 44, are competing in the March primary for a redrawn 18th Congressional District, where they will face long-serving Rep. Al Green, 78. The winner of the Democratic primary is widely expected to be the favorite for the full two-year term in November.

The March primary underscores a wider generational debate within the Democratic Party. Menefee and Edwards represent a younger cohort challenging Green, a well-known progressive who has served in Congress for more than two decades. Similar intra-party contests nationwide are framing generational experience and electoral strategy as central questions for Democrats heading into the fall.

Voters in the area have faced an extended period without steady representation since former Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee died in 2024; she had held the seat for roughly three decades. Texas GOP redistricting altered Green’s old district boundaries, prompting him to run in the newly configured district that contains many of his previous constituents.

Menefee’s runoff victory raises his public profile and momentum heading into the March primary. Early voting for that primary is set to begin in two weeks.