Hakeem Jeffries threatens lawsuit over delayed Texas special election

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is threatening a lawsuit against Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for holding off on calling a special election to fill a vacant House seat in Houston, which Democrats allege is a deliberate move designed to help pad the GOP’s razor-thin majority.

In a response to a question from NBC News on Wednesday, Jeffries said it’s “very likely” that they will pursue litigation against Abbott, who has yet to set a date for an election to replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Texas, after he died in early March.

Asked if he thought Abbott was deliberately delaying the the special election in Texas’ solidly Democratic 18th District, Jeffries said “yes.”

Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary, said in a statement to NBC News on Wednesday: “An announcement on a special election will be made at a later date.”

Christian Menefee, the Harris County attorney and Democrat who is planning to run for the seat, has also said he would sue Abbott if he didn’t call for a special election soon. 

“Nearly 800,000 Houstonians are without a voice in Congress. Abbott has called emergency elections before—he just doesn’t want to do it here,” Menefee posted on X on Wednesday, accusing Abbott of trying to keep the seat open to benefit the Trump administration and House Republicans. 

“Congress is voting on critical issues. TX-18 deserves a representative now—not months from now,”Menefee said.

And Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder echoed Jeffries’ comments in a statement on Wednesday.

“Our advice to Greg Abbott: Call an emergency election, or lawyer up,” Scudder said.

Texas law does not appear to include a deadline for Abbott to call a special election after a vacancy opens up. Special elections typically take place on already-scheduled elections in Texas, unless the governor deems it an emergency. And since the deadline to call for Turner’s special election to coincide with the upcoming May election in Texas has already passed, the next available election in the state isn’t until November.

That means the Houston-area district, which has a predominantly Hispanic and Black population and has now had its previous two members die in office, could go as long as seven months without representation in this Congress, unless Abbott calls for an emergency election.

An emergency election would be an expensive move that Republican operatives see as highly unlikely. Some House Democrats fear Abbott could wait even longer than November, given there are no laws forcing his hand.

Aside from how costly it would be to set the election before November, there may be another reason for Abbott’s delay: the House GOP’s math problems. While two more Republicans are set to join the House after winning a pair of Florida special elections on Tuesday, there is still rampant concern about party’s slim majority, especially as they try to pass President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda.

Those concerns have grown so acute in recent weeks that Trump even decided to withdraw Rep. Elise Stefanik’s nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, deciding it’s ultimately better to keep the New York Republican in the House.

House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office did not immediately respond to questions about the vacant Texas seat.

Keeping a congressional seat open for an extended period of time isn’t entirely unheard of: Democrats contemplated a proposal in the New York state legislature that would have allowed them to hold open Stefanik’s seat indefinitely had she been confirmed to the U.N. post, though they ultimately pulled back on the idea.

Abbott acted faster in setting a deadline in other instances where there was a vacancy in Texas’ congressional delegation.

After Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who previously represented Turner’s seat, died last July, Abbott issued a call for a special election two weeks later. Turner didn’t run in that special election, but he won the regular election that fall for the seat and served a for a few months in Congress before his death.

And in two cases, responding to vacancies in seats represented by each party, Abbott declared an emergency special election to limit the time a seat remained open — in 2022 after Democratic Rep. Filemon Vela resigned and in 2018 when GOP Rep. Blanke Farenthold resigned.