Two months after being sworn into U.S. Congress, Rep. Sylvester Turner’s House seat will now be vacant after he passed away Wednesday at 70.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott will now decide when a special election will be held to fill the seat, which will have national implications, Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said.
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“This is not your normal special election,“ Jones said. ”This special election has national implications for control of the U.S. House of Representatives given that Republicans are dealing with a very narrow majority."
Turner represented the 18th Congressional District, which Jones described as “dark blue.”
These are the three options for a special election, according to Jones:
- May 3: If Gov. Abbott decides to call a special election within the next few weeks, voters would likely decide during the next-scheduled election on Saturday, May 3
- Nov. 4: If the special election is called any time after late March, the election to fill the seat will likely not take place until November
- In between May 3 - Nov. 4: The governor can call an emergency special election to fill the seat on any date between the two scheduled elections, but he isn’t obligated to do so
Based on those options, the earliest the seat could be occupied is mid-to-late May and the latest would be mid-December.
Gov. Abbott released a statement Wednesday offering condolences to Turner’s family, but his office has not responded to KPRC 2’s request for information about a special election.
“Given the political chess that we’re playing in D.C.—and the very narrow nature of that Republican majority—it would not surprise me if Governor Abbott waited until early April to call the special election, which wouldn’t take place until November of 2025,” Jones said.
RELATED: What’s next for 18th Congressional District after Sylvester Turner’s passing?
Because it would be a special election, no primary election would be required, and it would go to a runoff if no candidate got more than 50% plus one of the vote.
After Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee passed away on July 19 last year, Gov. Abbott announced on Aug. 2 that the special election would be held on election day, Nov. 5, to serve out her unexpired term.
Jones suggested 2024 congressional candidate Amanda Edwards, who lost to Jackson Lee in the longtime congresswoman’s competitive primary, could be a viable candidate to fill the 18th Congressional District seat.
He added that state representatives or senators may also decide to enter the race, because it wouldn’t require them to resign their current positions.
“Normally these seats do not open up all that often,“ Jones said. ”This is unprecedented, that we’ve essentially had the seat open up twice within a year... These are often seats that are held for decades.”
The governor’s office tells us the special election date will be announced in the future.
MORE FROM MARK JONES: How Donald Trump won Texas, outperformed 2024 election projections