No timetable from Texas governor on filling late Democratic congressman’s vacant seat

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The race to fill a Texas congressional seat has candidates but no election date more than three weeks after Rep. Sylvester Turner’s death left a vacancy in a stronghold for Democrats, who are eager to cut into Republicans’ narrow U.S. House majority.

Turner, a former Houston mayor, died March 5 just weeks into his first term in Congress. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has the sole authority to call a special election but has not said when he might do so, drawing criticism from some Democrats who have accused him of trying to help protect the GOP’s margins.

The seat is one of four vacancies in Congress, including two in Florida, where voters next week will choose successors in special elections for a pair of GOP-held districts. Republicans currently hold 218 seats, while Democrats hold 213 seats.

“An announcement on a special election will be made at a later date,” Abbott spokesman Andrew Mahaleris said in an email, in response to whether the House majority is factoring into the governor’s decision-making.

Elections in Texas are typically held in May and November.

In 2021, Abbott called for a special election two weeks after Republican Rep. Ron Wright became the first member of Congress to die after contracting COVID-19 during the pandemic. Last year, Abbott called a special election for the vacant seat of Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee about two weeks after her death in July.

“This is very clearly playing political games. They know the U.S. majority in the House is on razor-thin margins,” said Democratic state Rep. Gene Wu of Houston, leader of the state House Democratic Caucus.

On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced that he was pulling Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination to the United Nations over concerns that it could threaten Republicans’ tight majority in the House, posting on his Truth Social platform that it was “essential that we maintain EVERY Republican Seat in Congress.”

Trump’s announcement reflects a growing concern among GOP members in the House who are fearful that their already threadbare majority will narrow and jeopardize their control of the chamber and ability to carry out Trump’s sweeping agenda.

New York Democrats had introduced legislation that would have delayed the special election and allowed Stefanik’s seat to remain open for several months but put the measure on ice after intense pushback from Republicans.

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee and former Houston City Council Member Amanda Edwards are two of the top candidates vying for the Texas seat. Menefee quickly acquired endorsements from former Democratic Reps. Colin Allred and Beto O’Rourke. Edwards, an attorney, ran for the seat twice last year.

In Arizona, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs called for a special election days after Rep. Raul Grijalva died on March 13.

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Associated Press writer Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, New York, contributed to this report.

Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.