Christian Menefee defeats longtime Democratic Rep. Al Green in Texas House district
Ken Paxton defeats John Cornyn in Texas GOP Senate primary runoff, CBS News projects | Special Report 02:22
Rep. Christian Menefee defeated Rep. Al Green in the Democratic primary for Texas’ newly elected 18th Congressional District on Tuesday, CBS News projects.
Incumbent Democrats consolidated some of their Houston-area districts as a result of last year’s gerrymandering. At President Trump’s request, the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature redrew congressional districts to create five additional seats favoring Republicans, and the Supreme Court allowed the state to move forward with the new map.
In a statement Tuesday, Menefee said the victory “belongs to the people of this district.”
“You have shown up time and time again, and each time you have chosen to fight for a better future for our communities,” he said. “I don’t take this for granted for a moment. This is your victory, and I will spend every day in Washington making sure it means something.”
Green, who has represented the 9th Congressional District since 2005, decided to run in the 18th District after the new congressional map moved the boundaries of the 9th District to make it more Republican-leaning.
The 18th District remained reliably blue after redistricting, making Menefee certain to win the general election in November.
Menefee’s tenure in Congress was short-lived. He was sworn in as a House member in February, replacing Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died in March of last year just weeks into his first term. Turner replaced Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who died while in office in July 2024.
With the back-to-back deaths of district representatives, both in their 70s, age loomed large in the race, especially as younger Democrats push for a new generation of candidates. Green is 78 years old and Menefee is 38 years old.
Inside March primariesMenefee led with 46% of the vote compared to Green’s 44%. But neither received more than 50 percent of the votes to avoid a runoff.
Green was known as a Trump opponent who filed articles of impeachment against the president during his first and second terms. Parliament voted last year condemnation She blamed him for interrupting President Trump’s speech to a joint session of Congress.
