Rep. Menefee Defeats Rep. Green to Win Texas Democratic House Primary Runoff

Rep. Christian Menefee (D-Texas) defeated Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) to win the Democratic primary in Texas’s 18th Congressional District on May 26.

Menefee is expected to face Republican Ronald Whitfield in the general election this November. Because the Houston-based district is overwhelmingly Democratic, Menefee is expected to win.

The contest marked the latest chapter in a turbulent period for the district. The political upheaval began after the death of longtime Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) in 2024. Months later, former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner—who succeeded Jackson Lee in Congress—died just two months into his term.

The vacancy soon became a major issue in Texas politics after Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, postponed calling a special election until November 2025, leaving the district without representation in Congress for roughly eight months during a closely divided session.

At the same time, Texas Republicans approved a new congressional map that significantly redrew Houston-area districts. The revised boundaries folded much of Green’s 9th Congressional District into the newly configured 18th District, creating an uncommon matchup between two Democratic incumbents.

“I didn’t ask for these new maps, Congressman Green didn’t ask for this, and the voters of this district certainly didn’t ask for this,” Menefee told the Houston Chronicle. “But we are not going to let [President] Donald Trump and Greg Abbott use this gerrymandering scheme as a distraction from the real issues.”

Menefee won a January special election held under the district’s previous boundaries to finish the remainder of Turner’s term, which expires at the end of the year. However, both Menefee and Green had already filed to run in the March Democratic primary under the newly drawn district lines. The two advanced to Tuesday’s runoff after emerging as the top finishers in a primary election held on March 3.

There is little ideological difference between the candidates.

Green ran on immigration reform, abortion access, LGBT issues, helping veterans, housing, and preserving Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.

Menefee’s platform included affordability, Medicare for all, protecting and strengthening public education, reproductive health care, ending gun violence, immigration reform, protecting veterans, and criminal justice reform.

As of May 6, Menefee raised almost $3.5 million, while Green raised over $1.5 million, according to the Federal Election Commission.

Green, who has represented Texas’s Ninth Congressional District since 2005, was censured by the House last year for interrupting Trump’s address before a joint session of Congress. He was the 29th member of Congress to be censured.

The congressman’s behavior “disrupted the proceedings of the joint address and was a breach of proper conduct,” a two-page resolution stated. Green was escorted out of the House chamber again in February for holding up a sign during Trump’s State of the Union address. He was not censured at that time.