General
Rising Democratic Star Enters Race to Fill Houston House Seat
Christian Menefee, the outspoken Harris County attorney, jumped into the race for a U.S. House seat representing a heavily Democratic district. But Gov. Greg Abbott has yet to set an election date.
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said Monday he was running for the vacant U.S. House seat of Representative Sylvester Turner, who died this month, hoping to capture a heavily Democratic district and chip away at the Republicans’ narrow majority.
Mr. Menefee, 36, is the first candidate in what is likely to be a contested, nonpartisan race to fill the seat of Mr. Turner, who died just weeks after being sworn into office.
Mr. Menefee has been seen as a rising star among Texas Democrats. He has frequently sparred with the state’s Republican leadership over voting rights and Republican efforts to impose greater state control over the Democratic-controlled Harris County and Houston, the state’s most populous county and city.
In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Menefee said he hoped to draw on that experience if elected, describing himself as well prepared to fight the Trump administration.
“They’re running the federal government in an incoherent, incompetent way that’s impacting lives, and they’re acting like bullies,” he said, referring to President Trump and his administration. “Frankly, I don’t like bullies.”
There appeared to be little question that the Democrats will hold onto the seat in Texas’ 18th congressional district, which includes downtown Houston and the historically Black neighborhoods of Third and Fifth Ward. The area was formerly represented by Barbara Jordan and Sheila Jackson Lee, both Democrats.
