Is Texas Gov. Greg Abbott holding open the late Rep. Sylvester Turner’s seat to help the GOP with their narrow House majority? That’s what Democrats allege and last week they began threatening legal action over the Republican’s failure to call a special election. When asked about the delay, Abbott said the reason was actually that Harris County was terrible at administering elections, and calling one too soon would have “led to a failure in that election.”
Texas law doesn’t set a deadline to call a special election when there’s a vacancy and they tend to occur in elections that are already scheduled.
On Monday, Abbott put the issue to rest when he announced a Nov. 4 date for the seat that’s been open since early March.
“No county in Texas does a worse job of conducting elections than Harris County," Abbott said in a statement. "They repeatedly fail to conduct elections consistent with state law. Safe and secure elections are critical to the foundation of our state. Forcing Harris County to rush this special election on weeks’ notice would harm the interests of voters. The appropriate time to hold this election is November, which will give Harris County sufficient time to prepare for such an important election.”
Issues in 2021 and 2022 prompted state lawmakers to abolish the Harris County elections administrator position. Abbott signed that law, which transferred election administration duties to the county clerk and voter registration responsibilities to the tax assessor-collector’s office.
The Secretary of State’s Office found that for the November 2022 election, the county had different numbers of registered voters than the state, and different numbers of absentee ballots sent out. That audit didn’t detail the causes of the discrepancies, nor suggest they influenced the outcomes of any races. That report also said the county failed to adequately train election workers and failed to supply some polling locations with enough ballot paper.
Since then, the Texas Secretary of State’s Office told state lawmakers that the county had improved how it runs elections and credited [Harris County Clerk Teneshia] Hudspeth’s leadership. (Texas Tribune)
But Democrats are reportedly still considering legal action.
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Democrats are still “actively exploring legal options to compel Governor Abbott” to hold the #TX18 special election earlier than the set date of Nov. 4 pic.twitter.com/GXAOUHG2p3
— James Downs (@jamesd0wns) April 8, 2025
With the seat vacant, Republicans can afford three defections, as the breakdown is 220-213. With the seat filled in the deep-blue district, most likely by a Democrat, the GOP can only lose two votes.
