2024 Texas's 18th congressional district special election

2024 Texas's 18th congressional district special election

November 5, 2024
Texas's 18th congressional district
Nominee Erica Lee Carter Maria Dunn Kevin Dural Party Democratic Republican Republican Popular vote 146,413 47,835 21,257 Percentage 67.9% 22.2% 9.9%
U.S. Representative before election Sheila Jackson Lee Democratic Elected U.S. Representative Erica Lee Carter Democratic

The 2024 Texas's 18th congressional district special election was a special election that was held on November 5, 2024,[1] to choose a new member of the U.S. House of Representatives. The seat became vacant when incumbent Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee died on July 19, 2024.[1]

The special election will only fill the remainder of Jackson Lee's unexpired term, from November 2024 until January 2025. Harris County Democratic party precinct chairs convened on August 13 to nominate former Houston mayor Sylvester Turner as a replacement on the ballot in the general election, which will take place the same day as the special election and decide a congressperson for the new term beginning in January 2025.[2] Upon being selected as the nominee, Turner chose not to run in the special election and endorsed Erica Lee Carter, the daughter of Jackson Lee.[3]

Candidates had until August 22 to declare their candidacy in the all-party special election, with a runoff held on a later date if no candidate receives a majority of the vote.[4] As a deeply blue urban district, this race is considered safe for Democrats.

Candidates

Democratic Party

Declared

• Erica Lee Carter, former Harris County Department of Education trustee and daughter of deceased incumbent Sheila Jackson Lee[5]

Withdrawn

• Dwight Boykins, former Houston city councilor from district D (2014–2019) and candidate for mayor of Houston in 2019[6]
• James Dixon, pastor and president of NAACP Houston (endorsed Lee Carter)[7]
• Amanda Edwards, former at-large Houston city councilor (2016–2020), candidate for this district in the 2024 regular election, and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2020[8]
• Sylvester Turner, former mayor of Houston (2016–2024) and nominee for this district in the general election (endorsed Lee Carter)[3]

Declined

• Jolanda Jones, state representative from the 147th district (2022–present) (endorsed Turner)[9]
• Christian Menefee, Harris County Attorney (2021–present) (endorsed Turner)[9]

Republican Party

Declared

• Maria Dunn, retiree[10]
• Kevin Dural, infrastructure project manager[11]

Endorsements

Erica Lee Carter (D)

Municipal officials

• Sylvester Turner, former mayor of Houston (2016–2024) and nominee for this district in the general election[3]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Amanda Edwards	Jarvis Johnson	Christina Morales	Letitia Plumber	Sylvester Turner	Undecided
Texas Victory Consulting[12]	August 5–7, 2024	1,113 (V)	± 2.0%	33%	9%	3%	3%	34%	16%

Results

2024 Texas's 18th congressional district special election[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Erica Lee Carter	146,413	67.94
	Republican	Maria Dunn	47,835	22.20
	Republican	Kevin Dural	21,257	9.86
Total votes			215,505	100.00
	Democratic hold

See also

• 2024 United States House of Representatives elections
  • 2024 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas
• List of special elections to the United States House of Representatives
• List of United States representatives from Texas
• 118th United States Congress

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear

References

1. Shen, Michelle (July 19, 2024). "Sheila Jackson Lee, long-serving Democratic congresswoman and advocate for Black Americans, dies at 74". CNN. Retrieved July 19, 2024.
2. Cheng, Yilun (August 2, 2024). "Democratic leaders to pick Jackson Lee's ballot replacement on Aug 13". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
3. Choi, Matthew (August 13, 2024). "Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner is the Democrats' pick for Jackson Lee seat in Congress". Texas Tribune. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
4. Marquez, Alexandra (August 4, 2024). "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sets special election to fill the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's seat". NBC News. Retrieved August 4, 2024.
5. Church, Abby (August 13, 2024). "U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's daughter will run to fill the rest of her mother's term". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
6. Abrahams, Tom (August 5, 2024). "Late Rep. Jackson Lee's children back 1 hopeful among 17 to succeed her in Congress". KTRK-TV. Retrieved August 12, 2024.
7. Klein, Randy (August 13, 2024). "'The answer is YES' Daughter of late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee running to finish mother's term". KHOU-TV. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
8. Schneider, Andrew (August 21, 2024). "Thursday filing deadline for special election to finish Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's final term". Houston Public Media.
9. Anthony Walsh, Dominic; Schneider, Andrew (August 2, 2024). "Sylvester Turner, Amanda Edwards among candidates vying for Sheila Jackson Lee's open seat". KUHF. Retrieved August 2, 2024.
10. Downey, Renzo (August 23, 2024). "Sheila Jackson Lee's daughter files to finish out her mother's term". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved September 3, 2024.
11. "Texas's 18th Congressional District candidates, late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee's former seat". KRIV. August 3, 2024. Retrieved August 3, 2024.
12. Texas Victory Consulting
13. "2024 Special Election Congressional District 18 Results". Texas Elections Division. November 5, 2024.