A crowded and closely watched special election runoff is underway in Texas\u2019 18th Congressional District, as former Houston City Councilmember Amanda Edwards once again seeks a seat in Congress. Edwards is facing former Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee in the runoff, which was triggered by the death of longtime lawmaker and former Houston mayor Sylvester Turner.<\/p>\n
On election night, Edwards, her family, friends, and supporters gathered at her watch party, waiting to see how votes would break amid low turnout and delayed ballot counts.<\/p>\n
Early Voting Deficit, But Uncounted Ballots Remain<\/p>\n
Edwards has acknowledged she entered Election Day trailing based on early voting numbers. However, her campaign says several factors could still influence the final outcome, including two extended early voting days that have not yet been counted, Election Day ballots, and provisional votes that will be reviewed during the canvassing period next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re starting out at a deficit that will be hard to overcome,\u201d said campaign manager Carrin Patman. \u201cBut we don\u2019t know because last time around she did lose the early vote and then she won the Election Day vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edwards echoed that uncertainty, pointing to what she described as an unusual election timeline.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to be a very unusual set of circumstances because of the two days that were early vote extension days,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cThose days are not included in our vote totals. And we know, of course, Election Day results will start coming out throughout the night.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Historically Significant District Without Representation<\/p>\n
Texas\u2019 18th Congressional District has been without representation since the death of Sylvester Turner, who won the seat last year but died just months into his term. The vacancy led to a special election in November, where no candidate secured more than 50 percent of the vote, forcing the runoff.<\/p>\n
The district, which covers much of Houston\u2019s urban core, has a long and influential political history. Past representatives include Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leland, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Sylvester Turner. Edwards previously worked for Jackson Lee and served two terms on Houston City Council, focusing on transportation, innovation, and economic development.<\/p>\n
Low Turnout as Voting Nears Its End<\/p>\n
With one hour of voting remaining, the Harris County Clerk\u2019s Office reported roughly 7,000 votes cast in a district with approximately 420,000 residents. Officials say low turnout is typical for special elections and runoff contests.<\/p>\n
Inside election headquarters, staff worked phone banks answering voter questions about polling locations and required documents, while others processed ballots as they came in.<\/p>\n
Voting officially ended at 7 p.m., with unofficial results expected later in the evening.<\/p>\n
What Happens Next: Canvassing and Certification<\/p>\n
Following Election Day, a week-long canvassing period allows ballots from voters who were out of town or overseas \u2014 including members of the military \u2014 to be counted. Official results are expected to be announced on Monday, February 9.<\/p>\n
The winner of the special runoff will take office immediately.<\/p>\n
Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth explained why the special election could not be combined with the March primary.<\/p>\n
\u201cA special election is totally different from March,\u201d Hudspeth said. \u201cThe special is necessary because there is no one currently serving in Congressional District 18.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that while the runoff winner will serve right away, the March election will determine who holds the seat beginning in January 2027 \u2014 and it could be the same person or someone different.<\/p>\n
March Primary Still Ahead<\/p>\n
Regardless of the runoff outcome, voters in District 18 will return to the polls on March 3 for the primary election to decide the next full congressional term. Edwards confirmed she will also appear on that ballot.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in the primaries. We\u2019re on the ballots, yes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Unofficial and official election results can be found online at Click2Houston.com.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A crowded and closely watched special election runoff is underway in Texas\u2019 18th Congressional District, as former Houston…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[7835,67049,288,56,58,57,7838],"class_list":{"0":"post-164211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-amanda-edwards","9":"tag-district-18","10":"tag-elections","11":"tag-houston","12":"tag-houston-headlines","13":"tag-houston-news","14":"tag-special-election"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}