After being threatened with a lawsuit, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott set a date for a special election to fill a Congressional seat vacated by the death of Democratic U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner.
Turner, a former Houston mayor, died March 5, just a few weeks into his first term in Congress as the representative for Texas's 18th Congressional District. The solidly Democratic district includes parts of Houston and Harris County, has nearly 800,000 residents, and currently has no representative in the U.S. House.
Watch 온라인카지노사이트 5 free wherever you are
WATCH HERELast week, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., threatened to sue Abbott for holding off on calling the special election, alleging it was a deliberate move designed to help pad the GOP’s razor-thin majority in Congress.
Days after the threat from Democrats, Abbott issued a proclamation on Monday saying the special election would be held in seven months on Nov. 4.
Get top local stories delivered to you every morning with 온라인카지노사이트 DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
SIGN UP Texas law does not specify when a special election must be called after a vacancy opens. Special elections typically occur in 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 coming May election in Texas has already passed, the next available election in the state isn’t until November. According to the Texas Secretary of State's election calendar, the last day to order a special election for the May election was Feb. 16.
In his statement, Abbott said the delay was due to election issues in Harris County.
“No county in Texas does a worse job of conducting elections than Harris County," said Abbott. "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.”
온라인카지노사이트 News reported Abbott acted faster in setting a deadline in other instances when there were vacancies in Texas’ congressional delegation. After Democratic Rep. , Abbott called for . Turner didn’t run in that special election; he won the regular election that fall for the seat and served in Congress for a few months before he died. 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 .
Candidates planning to run in the special election must file their applications with the Secretary of State by 5 p.m. on Sept. 3. Early voting will begin Monday, Oct. 20, and end on Oct. 31. Election Day will be Tuesday, Nov. 4.
