Democrats are ratcheting up their threats of legal action over Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s delay in calling a special election in a deep-blue Houston district to replace the late Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas).
Members of the Texas congressional delegation have privately discussed ways to take action against Abbott to ensure Turner’s seat can get filled quickly. On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said House Democrats will “very likely” pursue a lawsuit against Abbott, although they’re still figuring out how to do that.
Harris County attorney Christian Menefee, who is a candidate in the race, said he’s “weighing his legal options” while accusing Abbott of breaking state law.
“It’s abundantly clear that if the governor refuses to call [the election] for this November, he would be violating the law,” Menefee said.
The Texas Democratic Party is threatening legal action as well, warning Abbott to “call an emergency election or lawyer up.”
Texas’ 18th District has been without a representative for nearly a month now. Turner died on March 5.
State law grants Abbott the sole authority to call a special election. The law doesn’t specify a deadline for the governor to set an election date, but the state’s election code requires a vacancy that must be filled by a special election to “be ordered as soon as practicable after the vacancy occurs.”
Abbott has already missed the deadline for the election to take place on May 3, which is the next scheduled election in Texas.
The Republican governor is also highly unlikely to call an emergency special election, which means the next election a new House candidate could be voted on won’t be until November.
Abbott’s office didn’t reply to several inquiries for this story.
But having a Democratic House seat vacant could benefit Republicans, who are grappling with a razor-thin majority
Some Democrats have pointed to Abbott’s history of calling other special elections much earlier. But Democrats also acknowledge the loose timeline in Texas law puts Abbott without a deadline to meet.
A group of Texas Democrats has been circulating a chart noting Abbott’s timeline for other elections.
For example, Abbott called an election to replace the late GOP Rep. Ron Wright 16 days after he died. There were 83 days between the vacancy and the election.
The governor waited just four days to announce an election to fill Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela’s seat in 2022, which got a new representative just 82 days later.
And after the late Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee died last year, Abbott called an election two weeks later. Jackson Lee’s seat was vacant for 108 days before being taken by Turner.
Setting special-election dates for vacant House seats has taken on added political significance with such a tight margin of GOP control.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis immediately scheduled special elections to replace former Reps. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul, with Jeffries’ urging, tried to change state law to deny Rep. Elise Stefanik’s (R-N.Y.) district a timely special election if she resigned. Hochul eventually backed away from the change, and Stefanik has never left the House.
Amanda Edwards, who is also running for the seat, said she hopes Abbott will “do the right thing” and hurry the process along.
“Having 800,000 people with no representation is not the right thing,” Edwards told us.
