Rep. Christian Menefee decisively defeated fellow Democrat Rep. Al Green in Tuesday’s Texas 18th Congressional District primary runoff, taking more than two-thirds of the vote when the Associated Press (AP) called the race.
The Associated Press called the race for Menefee at 7:33 p.m. with an estimated 61 percent of votes counted. Menefee led with 21,678 votes, or 68.6 percent, while Green had 9,930 votes, or 31.4 percent, according to the AP race call.
The result marks a major intraparty defeat for Green, who has served in Congress for more than 21 years, and advances Menefee after a cycle in which both men were serving in Congress. Menefee entered Congress after running for the Houston-based 18th District seat previously held by the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died in March 2025. Before entering Congress, Menefee served as Harris County attorney and had been Harris County’s first black county attorney after ousting an incumbent in 2020.
The 18th District race followed the Republican-led Texas legislature’s approval of a new congressional map in 2025. The map moved much of Green’s longtime political base out of the 9th Congressional District and into the newly drawn 18th District. Green and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) filed a motion for a preliminary injunction in federal court to block implementation of the map, arguing it would unlawfully alter the districts they represented. The legislature approved the map after an 88–52 House vote and an 18–11 Senate vote, and Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) praised the bill, saying it “ensures our maps reflect Texans’ voting preferences.”
Menefee’s record in Harris County and Congress included a focus on immigration. As Harris County attorney, he opposed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit over Harris County’s $1.35 million deportation defense fund, calling it “a cheap political stunt” after Paxton accused the county of illegally using taxpayer money to help fund legal defense for people facing deportation hearings, and his biography cited pro bono work advising immigrants and their families at Bush Intercontinental Airport during the “Muslim ban.”
In Congress, Menefee joined Democrats at a March 2026 “shadow hearing” hosted by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), saying, “These [illegal migrants] are folks who are our neighbors … They do the jobs that keep our city running,” and later joined a May 2026 delegation to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, where he alleged, “every single thing that they told us we later found out when we talked to the detainees was a lie,” and accused ICE of “kidnapping folks in the middle of the night.”
Both Green and Menefee were among 53 House Democrats who voted no in March 2026 on a resolution stating that Iran remains the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. The resolution passed 372-53, with two Democrats voting present. The resolution stated that Iran “remains the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism” and provides support to groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.
Green’s primary defeat came after a series of high-profile confrontations with President Donald Trump and House Republicans. In March 2025, Green disrupted Trump’s address to Congress by standing, waving his cane, and yelling after Trump said he had a mandate from voters. Speaker Mike Johnson urged Green to take his seat and later ordered the sergeant-at-arms to remove him from the chamber. The House later voted 224-198-2 to censure Green, with ten Democrats joining Republicans. A CNN poll found that 80 percent of viewers thought Green’s outburst was inappropriate.
Green also repeatedly pursued impeachment efforts against Trump. In June 2025, he filed an article of impeachment over Trump’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, alleging that Trump failed to seek congressional authorization and abused presidential powers. The House tabled that resolution 344-79, with 128 Democrats joining all 216 Republicans. In December 2025, the House rejected another Green impeachment effort, tabling it 237-140, with 47 voting present and 23 Democrats joining Republicans to block the motion. Green had accused Trump of abusing presidential power and invoked King and the late Rep. John Lewis while calling on lawmakers to take a stand.
In February 2026, Green compared himself to Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks after being removed from Trump’s State of the Union address. During that incident, Green protested with a sign reading “BLACK PEOPLE AREN’T APES,” which was aimed at a deleted Truth Social post spoofing The Lion King with Democrats’ faces placed on characters, including Michelle and Barack Obama as primates. Green said outside the chamber that King and Parks had taken stands despite consequences and said he would do it again.
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