Congressional District 18 Boundaries Haven’t Changed Yet
As if low voter turnout wasn’t already a challenge in the November election, some Harris County residents have said they weren’t planning to vote in the race for a new Congressional District 18 representative because they thought they’d been redistricted out of that area.
That’s not the case. The District 18 boundaries are the same as they were in the 2024 election, when former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner won the seat. After Turner’s death in March, the Texas Legislature approved new congressional boundary lines but they haven’t gone into effect yet. A special election to fill Turner’s unexpired term is set for November 4, and early voting is underway.
The new redistricting maps are currently being challenged in federal court and, if upheld, will apply to the March 2026 primary election.
Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth said voters will receive new registration certificates in early 2026 when the new lines are implemented.
Ken Rodgers, president of the Greater Third Ward Super Neighborhood, said he and his neighbors are clear that they haven’t been drawn into another district, and even if they had, they’d still get to vote for a new member of Congress in the November election. The challenge, Rodgers said, is to get people to go to the polls.
“I’m just encouraging people to vote, period,” he said. “The numbers are still low.”
As of Tuesday, about 112,794 Harris County residents cast ballots at 70 early voting polling places. The unofficial numbers also include returned mail ballots. Harris County has almost 2.7 million registered voters, so the turnout thus represents a dismal 4.23 percent. However, early voting continues through Friday and many people still prefer to cast their ballots on Election Day.
The Congressional District 18 race includes 16 candidates, with former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards and Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee leading in the polls. Both frontrunners are Democrats. Political experts say a runoff is likely to be held in January 2026, and the District 18 boundaries will stay the same for that too.
Edwards said at a Wednesday press conference she’s encountered scores of voters who have expressed uncertainty about which district they live in and where their votes will count in the upcoming election.
“This whole situation is by design: not having the special election occur in close proximity to the death [of Turner] creates a distance with people in terms of their connection to a November election applying to something that happened in March,” she said. “It’s just a lot of those things that, when you add them up, you create a very confused electorate.”
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott could have called the special election immediately but said after Turner’s death that Harris County has poorly managed elections in the past and would need months, not weeks, to prepare.
Bishops R.H. Jones, Kenneth Murray Sr. and John Wynn attended Edwards’ media event and said they’re working in the community to educate voters that there is a November election and the redistricting boundaries haven’t changed.
“They don’t even know they’re confused,” Wynn said. “Logically, [approved redistricting maps] would apply to the next election.”
Currently, the 18th Congressional district has about 800,000 constituents and includes downtown, part of The Heights, Acres Homes, Third Ward, northeast Houston and the area surrounding George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Humble.
The new proposed boundaries move the district’s core population south and east, taking in portions of the 9th Congressional District, represented by Democrat Congressman Al Green, whose home will be in the 18th district under the new map.
Green didn’t file for the special election to fill Turner’s unexpired term but has said he’s considering a run for District 18 in the March primary.
The lines were redrawn mid-decade in an effort to flip five seats red so President Donald Trump could maintain his Republican majority in Congress. District 18 is now and will remain a Democrat-majority district. Critics have said the effort, led by the Republican-majority Texas Legislature, was unnecessary and racist.
The new District 18 boundaries will decrease the Hispanic population, which plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit say dilutes the voting power of minority communities.
Menefee said Wednesday he’s also seeing “a ton of confusion.”
“This election is about our democracy,” Menefee said in an email to the Houston Press. “This district is known for having a powerful voice, and right now that voice matters more than ever. Republican leaders are doing everything they can to dilute the voting power of the people, from changing maps to making it more confusing to vote, all in an effort to silence our communities.”
“But every single vote cast in this election pushes back against that,” he added. “Every single vote says we’re still here, we’re still fighting, and we’re ready to stand up for democracy.”
Edwards ran for the District 18 seat in 2024 and placed second to longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the primary. After Jackson Lee’s death in July 2024, Edwards made another bid and lost to Turner in a special election.
“It has been far too long since we’ve had representation,” Edwards said on Wednesday. By the time a representative is elected, almost a year will have passed since District 18 residents have had an opportunity to advocate for federal funding and had a voice in Congress, the candidate said.
“A lot has taken place, including the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill that has devastating impacts on our community,” she said. “That only passed, initially, by a margin of one vote while the seat was empty.”
Edwards’ message on Wednesday was clear: “If you were able to vote in the 18th Congressional District in 2022 and 2024, you can vote in that district in 2025 in this special election.” Because the election is to fill Turner’s unexpired term, the boundaries that were in place when that term began must be honored, the candidate explained. The winner of the special election will serve until December 2026.
All Texas voters will decide on 17 constitutional amendments, including tax exemptions, a statewide water fund and bail reform. Houston and Cypress-Fairbanks ISDs have contested school board races, and an at-large Houston City Council seat is also up for grabs for voters who live within the city limits.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.
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