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Tag: Teneshia Hudspeth

  • Congressional District 18 Boundaries Haven’t Changed Yet – Houston Press

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    As if low voter turnout wasn’t already a challenge in the November election, some Harris County residents have said they weren’t planning to vote in the race for a new Congressional District 18 representative because they thought they’d been redistricted out of that area. 

    That’s not the case. The District 18 boundaries are the same as they were in the 2024 election, when former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner won the seat. After Turner’s death in March, the Texas Legislature approved new congressional boundary lines but they haven’t gone into effect yet. A special election to fill Turner’s unexpired term is set for November 4, and early voting is underway.

    The new redistricting maps are currently being challenged in federal court and, if upheld, will apply to the March 2026 primary election. 

    Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth said voters will receive new registration certificates in early 2026 when the new lines are implemented.

    Ken Rodgers, president of the Greater Third Ward Super Neighborhood, said he and his neighbors are clear that they haven’t been drawn into another district, and even if they had, they’d still get to vote for a new member of Congress in the November election. The challenge, Rodgers said, is to get people to go to the polls.

    “I’m just encouraging people to vote, period,” he said. “The numbers are still low.”

    As of Tuesday, about 112,794 Harris County residents cast ballots at 70 early voting polling places. The unofficial numbers also include returned mail ballots. Harris County has almost 2.7 million registered voters, so the turnout thus represents a dismal 4.23 percent. However, early voting continues through Friday and many people still prefer to cast their ballots on Election Day.

    The Congressional District 18 race includes 16 candidates, with former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards and Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee leading in the polls. Both frontrunners are Democrats. Political experts say a runoff is likely to be held in January 2026, and the District 18 boundaries will stay the same for that too. 

    Edwards said at a Wednesday press conference she’s encountered scores of voters who have expressed uncertainty about which district they live in and where their votes will count in the upcoming election. 

    “This whole situation is by design: not having the special election occur in close proximity to the death [of Turner] creates a distance with people in terms of their connection to a November election applying to something that happened in March,” she said. “It’s just a lot of those things that, when you add them up, you create a very confused electorate.”

    Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott could have called the special election immediately but said after Turner’s death that Harris County has poorly managed elections in the past and would need months, not weeks, to prepare.

    Bishops R.H. Jones, Kenneth Murray Sr. and John Wynn attended Edwards’ media event and said they’re working in the community to educate voters that there is a November election and the redistricting boundaries haven’t changed.

    “They don’t even know they’re confused,” Wynn said. “Logically, [approved redistricting maps] would apply to the next election.”

    Bishops R.H. Jones, Kenneth R. Murray Sr. and John Wynn say they’re educating voters that there is a November election and the redistricting boundaries haven’t changed yet. Credit: April Towery

    Currently, the 18th Congressional district has about 800,000 constituents and includes downtown, part of The Heights, Acres Homes, Third Ward, northeast Houston and the area surrounding George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Humble. 

    The new proposed boundaries move the district’s core population south and east, taking in portions of the 9th Congressional District, represented by Democrat Congressman Al Green, whose home will be in the 18th district under the new map. 

    Green didn’t file for the special election to fill Turner’s unexpired term but has said he’s considering a run for District 18 in the March primary.

    The lines were redrawn mid-decade in an effort to flip five seats red so President Donald Trump could maintain his Republican majority in Congress. District 18 is now and will remain a Democrat-majority district. Critics have said the effort, led by the Republican-majority Texas Legislature, was unnecessary and racist. 

    The new District 18 boundaries will decrease the Hispanic population, which plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit say dilutes the voting power of minority communities. 

    Christian Menefee, third from right, poses with supporters Houston City Councilman Mario Castillo, Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis, U.S. Congresswoman Rodney Ellis, Houston City Councilwoman Tiffany Thomas and Houston Federation of Teachers president Jackie Anderson at an October 28 event. Credit: Jackie Anderson

    Menefee said Wednesday he’s also seeing “a ton of confusion.”

    “This election is about our democracy,” Menefee said in an email to the Houston Press. “This district is known for having a powerful voice, and right now that voice matters more than ever. Republican leaders are doing everything they can to dilute the voting power of the people, from changing maps to making it more confusing to vote, all in an effort to silence our communities.”

    “But every single vote cast in this election pushes back against that,” he added. “Every single vote says we’re still here, we’re still fighting, and we’re ready to stand up for democracy.”

    Edwards ran for the District 18 seat in 2024 and placed second to longtime U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the primary. After Jackson Lee’s death in July 2024, Edwards made another bid and lost to Turner in a special election. 

    “It has been far too long since we’ve had representation,” Edwards said on Wednesday. By the time a representative is elected, almost a year will have passed since District 18 residents have had an opportunity to advocate for federal funding and had a voice in Congress, the candidate said.

    “A lot has taken place, including the passage of the Big Beautiful Bill that has devastating impacts on our community,” she said. “That only passed, initially, by a margin of one vote while the seat was empty.”

    Edwards’ message on Wednesday was clear: “If you were able to vote in the 18th Congressional District in 2022 and 2024, you can vote in that district in 2025 in this special election.” Because the election is to fill Turner’s unexpired term, the boundaries that were in place when that term began must be honored, the candidate explained. The winner of the special election will serve until December 2026.

    All Texas voters will decide on 17 constitutional amendments, including tax exemptions, a statewide water fund and bail reform. Houston and Cypress-Fairbanks ISDs have contested school board races, and an at-large Houston City Council seat is also up for grabs for voters who live within the city limits. 

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    April Towery

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  • Harris County Clerk Says It’s All Systems Go – Houston Press

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    Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth is undeterred by criticism of elections in years past, saying on Monday, the first day of early voting, that her staff is ready and she doesn’t anticipate any major challenges. 

    At a 10 a.m. press conference, Hudspeth announced that more than 2,000 Harris County voters had already cast ballots. 

    The November 4 ballot includes 17 constitutional amendments, school board races, an at-large Houston City Council post and the U.S. Congressional District 18 contest. It’s the 12th election Hudspeth has supervised since accusations of election rigging and voter fraud — later found to be meritless — were made in 2022. 

    Although an investigation by the Texas Rangers found no “widespread fraud,” an audit by the Texas Secretary of State’s office uncovered paper ballot shortages, long wait times and malfunctioning machines in 2022. A state law passed the following year dismantled Harris County’s elections administrator’s office and shifted supervision of elections to the county clerk’s office and voter registration to the tax assessor-collector. 

    Critics said at the time that Senate Bill 1750, authored by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, was an attempt by Republicans to exert more control over elections in a blue county in a traditionally red state. State inspectors were assigned to monitor the handling and counting of ballots in Harris County in 2024. 

    Despite the investigation turning up no evidence that any county employees tampered with the election, Hudspeth’s team continues to combat negative publicity. Gov. Greg Abbott took a shot at Harris County elections when he neglected to immediately call a special election after the death of former Houston Mayor and U.S. Congressman Sylvester Turner in March. 

    “No county in Texas does a worse job of conducting elections than Harris County. They repeatedly fail to conduct elections consistent with state law,” Abbott said in April, when he announced that Turner’s unexpired term would be decided in November. Several candidates in the Congressional District 18 race disputed the claim, praised Hudspeth and said Abbott delayed the election to minimize Democratic representation in Congress. 

    Hudspeth said Monday the November election offers Harris County voters an opportunity to influence local and statewide policy. Seventy early voting locations will remain open through October 31 and roughly 600 will be available countywide on Election Day. 

    Tara Nguyern, an outreach specialist in the Harris County Elections Department, displays a map of 70 early voting locations. Credit: April Towery

    Hudspeth told the Houston Press last week that “tons of things have been done since 2022” to improve voting process. 

    When elections were returned to the county clerk’s office in 2023, Hudspeth assessed the equipment and determined what needed to be upgraded.

    “We really got down in the trenches of addressing the major concerns that took place in 2022,” she said. “That included software upgrades to reduce the amount of paper [that] voters have to use when it’s time to scan their ballots. We went from two to three pages to just one page. We made sure we overallocated paper documents for every election cycle since then, so we’ve made sure we’ve not repeated those things.” 

    The clerk then went to the Harris County Commissioners Court and asked for more equipment. 

    “When you run as many elections as we do in Harris County — back-to-backs, runoffs, specials, primaries — you can’t flip all that equipment around in one swoop to go to the next election,” Hudspeth said. “You’ve got to have enough equipment for one and audit for the next and use additional equipment.” 

    Elections headquarters has been in a new centralized facility on Morales Road near Bush Intercontinental Airport for about a year. At Monday’s press conference, a call center was already staffed at the headquarters building, taking calls from prospective voters. Hudspeth said her team continues to work with both major political parties and the Secretary of State’s Office when legislative changes occur, and the real heroes are the poll workers. 

    “Elections simply don’t work without election workers,” she said. “We train these individuals and we provide them with all  the resources to be prepared and ready. For a November election, it can take anywhere from 12,000 to 15,000 election workers. It is a huge machine. They are the most vital part of this operation.” 

    “When you see an election worker, tell them thank you,” she added.  

    Poll worker Leslie Moore sets up a voting booth at the Richard and Meg Weekley Community Center. Credit: April Towery

    In addition to providing extensive training, Hudspeth said there are now more technicians at polling places to assess potential problems and deliver materials if needed. 

    “Oh, like, if they run out of paper?” a reporter asked. 

    “They’re not going to run out of paper,” a staffer from Hudspeth’s office responded. 

    The clerk pointed out that there’s no such thing as a flawless election but said she does not “anticipate any issues.”

    “One thing is for sure: every election cycle we learn something,” she said. “In terms of the voting machines, all those machines are audited and worked on. We have measures in place and we have technical support teams in clusters around the county. If something needs to be addressed or taken care of, we’re able to do it in real time.” 

    “[There have been] no hiccups, no concerns, and look, if something comes up, we have technical individuals in the field,” she added. “We have dispatch units all over the place. Our teams are working really hard day and night.” 

    Hudspeth encouraged Harris County residents to read published voter guides and study the sample ballots at harrisvotes.com before they go to the polls. The clerk also noted that while a mid-decade redistricting effort was approved by the Texas Legislature this summer, the Congressional District 18 boundaries remain the same as they have been for several election cycles. 

    “Those changes will not take place until 2026,” she said. “If you live in and have registered in CD 18, the maps have not changed. If there is a runoff, the maps will also stay the same.” 

    Those who are eligible to vote remotely have until Friday, October 24, to fill out the paperwork to receive a ballot in the mail, Hudspeth said. The next couple of weeks will be busy for the county clerk, but she said she has no doubt that she, with the help of “a huge village of people,” can pull it off. 

    “Part of running elections is that it’s just kind of in your blood,” Hudspeth said. “No matter how tired you are, it’s just like this timer goes off and it’s like, OK, it’s go time.” 

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    April Towery

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