Al Green, Christian Menefee head to runoff in Texas 18th District

Eleven-term veteran Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) and newly elected Rep. Christian Menefee (D-Texas) will face off again Tuesday evening after failing to receive more than 50% of Democrats in their bid to represent Texas’ 18th Congressional District.

According to Texas law, If no candidate receives a majority of votes, the race will go to a runoff. On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported that Menefee received 46% of the vote to Green’s 44.2%.

Green has served in Congress since 2005, representing the Lone Star State’s 9th Congressional District. This year, because of redistricting changes pushed by Republicans, Green announced he would seek re-election in the state’s 18th Congressional District, putting him on a collision course with Menefee.

Menefee won election to the House in a January special election to fill the seat of Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Texas.

Turner, 70, died while on duty last March.

Green has gained national attention in recent years for her pursuit of impeachment charges against President Donald Trump.

Green most recently led an impeachment effort against Trump in November; this was his fifth attempt to bring charges against the president. Green has framed the impeachment effort as a litmus test for his own party, forcing members to vote based on their own positions on whether Trump has committed the “high crimes or misdemeanors” that warrant his removal from office.

Green said at the time: “We must participate. This is a participatory democracy. Impeachment requires the participation and guidance of all of us.”

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President Donald Trump delivers his joint address to Congress and interrupts Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas, who is protesting his cuts to multiple government programs on March 4, 2025. (Credit McNamee/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Green also covered Trump’s last two joint addresses to Congress. Green found himself escorted from the chamber after bringing a banner emblazoned with the phrase “black people are not monkeys” to the 2026 State of the Union; this was a repeat of similar events in 2025. Green then refused to sit down and waved his cane at Trump until security removed him from the room.

Amid redistricting changes aimed at eliminating five Democratic-held seats, Green has said he will continue trying to represent the district he has served since arriving in the House.

“I’m not moving,” Green told local reporters In November. “That is why I am announcing that I will be running for the permanent seat.”

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Harris County Prosecutor Christian Menefee has been endorsed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus Political Action Committee in 2025. (Harris County Prosecutor’s Office official website)

Menefee announced his own candidacy for the district before Texas finalized its redistricting plans. He framed his campaign as a way to secure Democratic interests.

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“Mr. Menefee, a former business litigation attorney from a military family, had been mentioned as a potential statewide candidate. His decision to run for Congress instead underscored what many Democrats recognized: The prospects of breaking the Republican grip on state politics in Texas looked dim for Democrats in the short term,” Menefee said in a post. website last March.

According to state law, Meneffee and Green will face each other on Tuesday, May 26, 2026.

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