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The ultra-thin Republican House majority became smaller after Democrat Christian Menefee won a special election for a seat in Texas.
Menefee won a special election in Texas’ 18th Congressional District.
He defeated Amanda Edwards to replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, who passed away in March 2025.
Republicans now hold a 218-214 majority in the lower legislative chamber.
The honor of a lifetime. Thank you, TX-18. pic.twitter.com/CtXwDCthF1
— Christian D. Menefee (@CDMenefee) February 1, 2026
Axios explained further:
Republicans are set to pick up a seat in March, when Georgia’s heavily Republican 14th District will go to the polls to elect a replacement for former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
But that cushion could disappear just a month later, when New Jersey’s 11th District, which is solidly Democratic, elects a successor to now-Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom denied Johnson any possible early relief by scheduling the special election to succeed Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) in early August, the latest possible date.
“Christian Menefee is a dynamic young public servant. He was just elected to represent the historic 18th Congressional District in Texas. Republicans must swear him in immediately. No more games,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said.
Christian Menefee is a dynamic young public servant.
He was just elected to represent the historic 18th Congressional District in Texas.
Republicans must swear him in immediately.
No more games. pic.twitter.com/02Q4Wd1QTg
— Hakeem Jeffries (@RepJeffries) February 1, 2026
CBS News has more:
The seat representing the heavily Democratic Houston-based district has been vacant for nearly a year.
Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott didn’t schedule the first round of voting until November. Menefee and Edwards were the top vote-getters in a 16-candidate, all-parties primary. They advanced to a runoff because no candidate won a majority of the vote.
Speaking to supporters at his victory party, Menefee promised to fight for universal health insurance, seek to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations and “tear ICE up from the roots.”
He also addressed Mr. Trump directly after noting that one of the district’s most storied representatives, Democrat Barbara Jordan, was an eloquent voice for President Richard Nixon’s impeachment ahead of his 1974 resignation.
“The results here tonight are a mandate for me to work as hard as I can to oppose your agenda, to fight back against where you’re taking this country and to investigate your crimes,” Menefee said.
Menefee will fill the remainder of Turner’s term, which ends when a new Congress is sworn into office in January 2027.
After Saturday, yet another election lies ahead in little over a month. Both Menefee and Edwards are on the ballot again on March 3, when they will face Democratic Rep. Al Green in another election — this one a Democratic primary in a newly drawn 18th congressional district, for the full term that starts in 2027. Green currently represents the 9th congressional district.