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Nearly 1 million people in Houston still don't have a member of Congress six months after U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner died in office, even though other states like Virginia and Arizona have already filled seats made vacant during that time period.
On Tuesday, Virginia voted to send Democrat James Walkinshaw to Congress to replace the late U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, who died in May. And on Sept. 23, Arizona will fill the seat left vacant after the death of U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva in March.
Even though Turner died before both of them in early March, Gov. Greg Abbott has delayed holding a special election to fill the seat until November. If the race goes to a runoff, the seat could remain unfilled until December. The runoff date will not be set by the Texas Secretary of State until after the Nov. 4 special election. More than a dozen candidates have filed to run.
At minimum, if there is no runoff, the predominantly Black 18th Congressional District will have gone 244 days without representation in Washington — one of the longest vacancies in congressional history. It's twice as long as the 18 other vacancies in Congress over the last two years created by death or resignations.
"It's a disgrace," said Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis in an interview on Wednesday. "The governor should be ashamed of himself."
Abbott has blamed Harris County for the delay. When he set the special election date, he said the county's history of having election problems made him want to give them extra time to prepare.
"No county in Texas does a worse job of conducting elections than Harris County," Abbott said.
But the delay has also helped President Donald Trump. The vacant seat meant one less Democrat in the U.S. House to block his "Big, Beautiful Bill," which passed the U.S. House in May by just one vote.
Ellis said Abbott's blame on Harris County is just a "smoke screen" to cover for what the White House wanted.
By law, Turner's 18th Congressional District offices are still operating with a limited staff, though they are under the supervision of the U.S. House Clerk's Office. The staff can continue to work on constituent issues like helping with veterans' claims, passport issues or lost Social Security checks. Turner's former staff is hosting a forum on Sept. 16 at the Judson Robinson Sr. Community Center on Ledwicke Road in Houston to help residents with health care enrollment questions.
But if residents have any questions about legislation or issues before Congress, the House Clerk directs the staff to send them to U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz or John Cornyn, both Republicans.
As columnist Joy Sewing noted, the missing representation is affecting the community in other ways. She noted Turner was trying to secure $2 million for the deteriorating Latino Learning Center in Houston that never made it into the federal budget after his death.
 | Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter |
Who's Up, Who's Down
A daily stock market-style report on key players in Texas politics.
Up: James Talarico.
The Democrat launched his campaign for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday and told about 1,000 people at a campaign kickoff near Austin that he's already raised $1 million on his first day on the trail. Talarico, a Round Rock native and former school teacher in San Antonio, joins a growing Democratic field that also includes former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas and retire Houston astronaut Terry Virts. On the Republican side, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn is seeking re-election, though Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging him in the GOP primary. Check out more of Talarico's speech on our Instagram accounts here.
Down: Texas A&M University.
The fallout continues from a viral video from a classroom that has Republicans calling for changes at the school. The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents ordered an audit Tuesday of courses at all 12 schools in the system. Plus, University President Mark A Welsh III said he had directed the school's provost to fire the professor involved, effective immediately. It all stems from an undercover video where a professor is teaching a lesson involving gender identity issues.
What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.
What else is going on in Texas
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Pick of the day
Photo by: Matt Zdun
Border crossings in Texas have fallen to record lows this year. But even as demand for enforcement has dropped, state troopers dispatched to Gov. Greg Abbott's border crackdown, Operation Lone Star, continue to rake in millions in overtime. The Department of Public Safety is on track to spend about $77 million on Lone Star overtime this year, according to data obtained by Hearst Newspapers. That would surpass what it spent in 2023, when crossings peaked and troopers were arresting thousands of migrants on trespassing and other state charges. Reporters Matt Zdun and Benjamin Wermund have more on the trends here.
What else I'm reading
The trajectory of the Texas Gulf Coast was forever changed 125 years ago this week when the Great Storm of 1900 essentially obliterated Galveston. The Galveston News has a special retrospective recounting the impact of the storm including tales of families that survived the storm. Galveston was the 4th largest city in Texas when the storm hit and after, investors began focusing their attention more on Houston.
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