By Richard Cowan and Robin Respaut
WASHINGTON, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Votes were still being counted late on Saturday in a Texas special election to fill a vacant U.S. House of Representatives seat.
Democrats Christian Menefee, 37, a former Harris County attorney, and Amanda Edwards, 44, a former Houston city council member, are vying to represent Texas' 18th Congressional District, a solidly Democratic area encompassing much of the inner city of Houston and the surrounding region.
A winner had not been
announced as of 11:15 p.m. CST (0224 GMT), more than three hours after polls closed.
In filling a seat that has been vacant for most of the past year, Democrats will shrink Republicans' already narrow majority. The winner will replace the late Representative Sylvester Turner, who served only two months in the House before his death in March.
Menefee and Edwards were the top two vote-getters in a field of 16 candidates in last November's election, requiring Saturday's runoff.
Republicans hold a 218-213 House majority. Democrats will insist upon a prompt swearing-in for the winner of the Saturday's vote, tightening the Republican lead to 218-214. Three House vacancies in Georgia, New Jersey and California are scheduled to be filled by special elections in March, April and August, respectively.
Last year, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, enraged Democrats when he delayed the swearing-in of now-Representative Adelita Grijalva following a special election in Arizona. She won that contest in September but was not sworn-in until mid-November.
In the coming weeks, Congress could vote on contentious issues, including legislation that would impose tougher operating procedures on federal immigration agents in Minneapolis and other cities throughout the nation. An attempt to reinstate a federal health insurance subsidy also remains a priority for many lawmakers.
Both measures, if they materialize, could be among several items decided by tight votes.
Democrats have fared well in special elections since the beginning of last year, boosting the party's hopes of winning control of the House in November's midterm congressional elections, especially given Republican President Donald Trump's anemic popularity at the moment.
This Texas special election, however, is not expected to provide insights into which party might prevail in November. In the 2024 presidential election, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris won the district over Trump 69%-29%.
All 435 House seats will be up for grabs in November. The party that holds the White House typically loses seats in the midterms.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan in Washington, D.C., and Robin Respaut in San Francisco; Editing by Sergio Non and William Mallard)
