The Houston-based seat will have been without representation for about 11 months.

The race to fill Texas’ long-vacant 18th Congressional District seat is headed to a runoff, just before the start of a new election cycle.

The veteran lawmaker whose current district was redrawn to benefit Republicans would face the winner of the 18th Congressional District special election runoff.

A Houston official and a former City Council member are headed to a runoff for the vacant U.S. House seat in a heavily Democratic district.

The runoff winner will serve out the term of U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died in office earlier this year. The seat will immediately be up for election again in 2026 for a full two-year term.

Voters in the heavily Democratic district have expressed confusion about who can vote — after the boundaries were upended by a GOP gerrymander — and what November’s special election is for.

The race to fill a Texas congressional seat has candidates but no election date more than three weeks after Rep. Sylvester Turner’s death left a vacancy in a stronghold for Democrats, who are eager to cut into Republicans’ narrow U.S. House majority.

Harris County Democratic leaders made their choice to represent the party in the November election.

Because Jackson Lee died after winning the Democratic primary, Texas Democratic officials will get to decide who replaces her on the November ballot.

At least three Democrats are considering bids for the Houston-area seat. But Texas Democratic officials — not voters — will decide who will be on the November ballot.

Lee, a Houston Democrat, said she plans to continue serving but could have some occasional absences from Congress.

Sheila Jackson Lee defeated Amanda Edwards in the most competitive primary of her congressional career.

Jackson Lee faces off against Amanda Edwards, her most formidable congressional opponent in three decades.

State Sen. John Whitmire, a fellow Houston Democrat, defeated Jackson Lee in a landslide Saturday.

State Sen. John Whitmire, first elected in 1982, and U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, in office since 1995, could be vacating seats that haven’t been open for decades. The election calendar, however, may bring a tough decision for one or both.

Edwards joins a field that already includes two well-known names: veteran state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, and Chris Hollins, the former Harris County clerk who oversaw election changes in 2020 that became a lightning rod for Republicans.