There is still room for a leader of Texas’ newly redrawn 18th Congressional District as veteran Democratic lawmaker Rep. Al Green enters a runoff election against fellow congressman and attorney Christian Menefee, HuffPost reported.
The two congressmen will face each other in the runoff election scheduled for May 26, after both candidates failed to win more than 50% of the vote during the March 3 primary election. Menefee, 37, led Green by roughly two percent of points but still fell short of winning outright as two other Democratic candidates pulled votes from him and Green.
As the district is historically Democratic-led, whoever wins the runoff is slated to win November’s general election.
Both men are eyeing to be the leader of the newly redrawn 18th Congressional district, serving large parts of Houston. Green, 78, had served the 9th district since 2005, but after Republicans pushed through partisan redistricting in 2025, his leadership was pushed into the 18th. According to USA Today, the seat has been empty for a little over 12 months since two representatives — Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Sylvester Turner — passed away while in office.
The battle is being described as a test of how badly voters are looking for generational change in Congress, with Green’s
age being in question. However, Menefee said he isn’t focused on that. Labeling himself as “the person to carry this district into the future,” and “the only candidate in the race” who has stood up to the Trump crew, the former Harris County district attorney is focused on important issues like affordability and defending democracy.After the redrawn maps were approved, Menefee said neither he nor Green asked for them and said the incumbent-on-incumbent battle is a result of the redistricting. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott was accused of slow-walking efforts to fill Turner’s seat as the special election between Menefee and former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards didn’t take place
until eight months later.As this is the second runoff election the young congressman has participated in, he spoke out against Abbott and other GOP efforts, calling them a distraction from the real issues. “I want to be clear about one thing: we are not going to let Donald Trump and Greg Abbott use this gerrymandering scheme as a distraction from the real issues facing the people of this country,” Menefee said.
“The 18th Congressional District has shown loud and clear that they want a fighter who can deliver real results, and I’m focused on continuing to deliver that.”
Green himself has been an avid and outspoken critic of President Donald Trump and his agenda, seeking to have him impeached several times. Most recently, he confronted Trump during the 2026 State of the Union address for a highly offensive post of the Obama family as apes. He was thrown out for holding up a sign reading, “Black people aren’t apes.”RELATED CONTENT: Morgan Freeman Joins Al Green On Stage To Sing ‘Let’s Stay Together’