Democrat Christian Menefee won the special election in Texas, reducing the GOP majority
Menifee defeated former Houston City Councilwoman Amanda Edwards, a fellow Democrat, in Saturday’s runoff election to fill the seat left vacant when Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner died last March, the Associated Press reported.
Menifee’s victory means a sharp decline in the Republican ranks House majority – They currently control the chamber 218-213 – They will shrink by one seat when Menefee is sworn in to Congress.
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee has been endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus Political Action Committee. (Official website of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office)
Sylvester, a former longtime state legislator, served two terms as mayor of Houston before winning election to Congress in 2024, filling the seat of the late Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
While Texas redrew its congressional maps for the 2026 midterm elections, as part of a high-stakes redistricting battle between Pres. Donald Trump and Republicans versus Democrats, the special elections used the state’s current district lines.
Democratic Representative Sylvester Turner of Texas died on March 5, 2025. (Brett Comer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Adding another lawmaker to the ranks of House Democrats will cause more headaches for the Republican leadership in the chamber.
“They better be here,” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson recently said one of its members. “I told everyone, not as a joke, I said, no adventure sports, no risk taking, take your vitamins. Stay healthy and be here.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Los Angeles, exits the chamber to speak with reporters after the final vote to end the longest government shutdown in history, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, November 12, 2025. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer’s office confirmed that he is advising members that they are “out of the life-and-death conditions” they expect Republican lawmakers to be on Capitol Hill.
Three more special elections for Congress are scheduled this year.
Eleven candidates are competing in the February 5 Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District.
The seat remains vacant now that he is governor of New Jersey. Mickey Sherrill He resigned after winning the Garden State gubernatorial election in November.
Then-Democrat Rep. Mickey Sherrill resigned from Congress in November after winning election as governor of New Jersey. (Michael Nagel/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The winner of the Democratic primary will face Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, the only Republican to file in the April 16 special election.
The suburban district in northern New Jersey leans left, with Sherrill winning re-election in 2024 by 15 points, the same margin by which she won the district in the gubernatorial showdown in November.
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But then-Vice President Kamala Harris won the district by just eight points in the 2024 presidential election, giving the GOP some hopes that the seat could be flipped.
22 candidates, including 17 Republicans, are running in a special election in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, in the race to succeed former Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The MAGA brand and former Trump ally in the House resigned four weeks ago from Congress, a year before her term expires.
Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned from Congress on January 5, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
According to Georgia state law, all candidates will compete on the same ballot. If no contestant receives 50% of the vote, a runoff election between the top two contestants will be held on April 7.
The northwest Georgia district is solidly Republican, with Greene winning re-election in 2024 by nearly 30 points and Trump carrying the district by 37 points.
California’s primary day for the 2026 election is scheduled for June 2, and this year will also include a special election primary in the state’s 1st Congressional District, in the race to fill a seat left vacant by the recent unexpected death of Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa. The general election is scheduled for August 4.
The district in northeastern California is solidly Republican.
Republican Representative Doug LaMalfa of California died on January 6, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Like Texas, California is also changing congressional maps as part of its redistricting wars, but the special elections will be held within existing district lines.
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The White House and Republicans in Congress criticized Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision not to hold a special election to fill LaMalfa’s seat until August, six months after the late congressman’s death.
But Democrats similarly complained that Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did not schedule a special election to fill Turner’s seat until eight months after the late lawmaker’s death.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this story.
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