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Democrat Christian Menefee, a former legal professional for Houston’s Harris County, has gained a particular congressional election in a left-leaning congressional district in Texas, which has been vacant for almost a yr.
The Associated Press studies that Menefee defeated former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards, a fellow Democrat, in Saturday’s runoff election to fill the seat left vacant when Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner died final March.
Menefee’s victory means the Republicans’ razor-thin House majority — they at present management the chamber 218-213 — will shrink by one seat when Menefee is sworn in to Congress.
DEMOCRATIC TAKEOVER FEARS SOAR AS HOUSE REPUBLICANS CLING TO FRAGILE MAJORITY
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee was endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus Political Action Committee. (Office of the Harris County Attorney official web site)
Sylvester, a former longtime state lawmaker, served two phrases as Houston mayor earlier than profitable election to Congress in 2024, to fill the seat of the late longtime Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
While Texas has redrawn its congressional maps for the 2026 midterms, as a part of the high-stakes redistricting battle between President Donald Trump and Republicans versus Democrats, the particular election used the state’s present district traces.
Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner of Texas died on March 5, 2025. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
The addition of another lawmaker into the House Democrats’ ranks will give Republican leadership in the chamber further headaches.
“They’d better be here,” House Speaker Mike Johnson recently said of his members. “I told everybody, and not in jest, I said, no adventure sports, no risk-taking, take your vitamins. Stay healthy and be here.”
DEMOCRATIC TAKEOVER FEARS SOAR AS HOUSE REPUBLICANS CLING TO FRAGILE MAJORITY
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., walks from the chamber to speak with reporters after the final vote to bring the longest government shutdown in history to an end, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
And House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s workplace confirmed it’s advising members that “outside of life-and-death circumstances,” they count on Republican lawmakers to be on Capitol Hill.
Three different particular congressional elections are on faucet this yr.
Eleven candidates are working within the Feb. 5 Democratic Party main in New Jersey’s eleventh Congressional District.
The seat was left vacant after now New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill stepped down after profitable November’s gubernatorial election within the Garden State.
Then-Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill stepped down from Congress in November after profitable election as New Jersey governor. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg through Getty Images)
The winner of the Democratic main will face off with Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, the one Republican to file for the particular election, which can be held on April 16.
The suburban district in northern New Jersey leans to the left, with Sherrill profitable re-election in 2024 by 15 factors, the identical margin she carried the district in November’s gubernatorial showdown.
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: HOUSE EXODUS THREATENS JOHNSON’S GRIP ON POWER AS OVER 40 MEMBERS HEAD FOR EXIT
But then-Vice President Kamala Harris gained the district by simply eight factors within the 2024 presidential election, giving the GOP some hopes of presumably flipping the seat.
A whopping 22 candidates, together with 17 Republicans, are working in a particular election in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, within the race to succeed former GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The MAGA firebrand and one-time high Trump House ally 4 weeks in the past stepped down from Congress a yr earlier than her time period ended.
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned from Congress on Jan. 5, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc through Getty Images)
According to Georgia state regulation, all of the candidates will run on the identical ballot. If no contender tops 50% of the vote, a runoff election between the highest two finishers will happen on April 7.
The district in northwestern Georgia is solidly Republican, with Greene profitable re-election in 2024 by almost 30 factors and Trump carrying the district by 37 factors.
Primary Day in California for the 2026 elections is scheduled for June 2, and this yr it can additionally embrace a main for the particular election within the state’s 1st Congressional District, within the race to fill a seat left vacant following the current sudden dying of Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa. The common election can be held on Aug. 4.
The district, in northeastern California, is solidly Republican.
Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California died on Jan. 6, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc through Getty Images)
Similar to Texas, California can also be altering its congressional maps as a part of the redistricting wars, however the particular election can be held below the present district traces.
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The White House and congressional Republicans criticized the choice by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to not maintain a particular election to fill LaMalfa’s seat till August, six months after the late congressman’s dying.
But Democrats equally complained about Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas not scheduling the particular election to fill Turner’s seat till eight months after the late lawmaker died.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this story.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter primarily based within the swing state of New Hampshire. He covers the marketing campaign path from coast to coast.”
