Texas governor calls November election for vacant US House seat as Democrats criticize timing

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced Monday that a special election to fill the late Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner’s seat won’t be held until November and defended the timing by renewing criticism of past Houston-area elections.

Abbott’s announcement that the special election will be on Nov. 4 came as Democrats have accused the governor of delaying the election after Turner’s March 5 death to help Republicans maintain their razor-thin margin in the U.S. House. Abbott has the sole authority to call for a special election.

The governor said the wait “will give Harris County sufficient time to prepare for such an important election.”

Harris County, where Houston is located, has faced scrutiny in recent years because of problems that have included long lines, poll worker and ballot shortages and ballots that were not counted the day of the election.

“Safe and secure elections are critical to the foundation of our state,” Abbott said in a news release. “Forcing Harris County to rush this special election on weeks’ notice would harm the interests of voters.”

With 5 million residents, most of whom are Latino or Black, the county is the most populous in Texas and the third-most populous in the U.S.

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, one of the candidates vying for Turner’s old seat, criticized the wait. Menefee had called for an election in June.

“It is unconscionable to leave nearly 800,000 people in this district without representation in Congress for most of the year,” Menefee said in a statement. “We’ll go through hurricane season, budget battles, and attacks on Social Security and Medicaid with no one at the table fighting for us.”

Menefee, along with Democratic U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, had threatened to sue Abbott over the delay.

Last week, Teneshia Hudspeth, the chief elections officer in Harris County, said the county was “fully prepared” to hold the election.

In 2023, Abbott signed a bill that removed Harris County’s elections administrator and transferred the responsibility to other local officials, including Hudspeth. Hudspeth noted that since then, “my office has successfully conducted eight elections.”

Turner, a former Houston mayor, died just weeks into his first term in Congress.

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Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at juanlozano70