Harris County Legal professional Christian Menefee. Former Houston Metropolis Councilmember Amanda Edwards. State Rep. Jolanda Jones. Actual property agent and journalist Carmen Montiel.
From the sector of 16 candidates vying to characterize the historic 18th District within the U.S. Congress, Menefee, Edwards, Jones, and Montiel had been proven to be the highest 4 candidates (in that order). That is in response to a Pastime Faculty of Public Affairs on the College of Houston survey of voters who’re more likely to really vote within the November 2025 particular election.
The Defender requested three questions of the 4 main candidates concerning what they search to carry to the congressional seat held beforehand by Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leland, Craig Washington, Sheila Jackson Lee, and, most lately, Sylvester Turner. Listed below are excerpts from their responses.
What’s your high precedence for bettering the standard of life in District 18?
Edwards: My high precedence for bettering high quality of life in District 18 is strengthening our infrastructure & catastrophe restoration so that each household can dwell in a secure and resilient neighborhood. Whereas we are able to’t forestall the rain from falling, we will be ready to catch it when it does. Because of this, I’ll prioritize making extra funding in our district’s infrastructure to forestall flooding. Along with infrastructure funding, I’ll lead efforts to overtake catastrophe restoration funding so residents can totally get well when storms and flooding happen.
Particularly, I’ll struggle again in opposition to Trump’s assaults on FEMA and his push to restrict federal funding. I can even make sure that we improve the supply of Neighborhood Growth Block Grants and different funding sources to straight help residents with housing wants and to help the creation of a Housing Options Heart (a public non-public partnership) designed to coordinate the federal, state, and native governments and supply a one cease store with full case administration to assist residents navigate the present difficult system of remoted housing packages to seek out housing options somewhat than the sequence of rejections that residents at the moment obtain.
Having served as an At-Giant Houston Metropolis Council member throughout Harvey and so many different disasters, I do know firsthand that we should make sure that households have entry to reasonably priced, secure housing — significantly within the aftermath of a storm. I’ll work day-after-day to ensure the individuals of District 18 have the sources, insurance policies, and case administration they should thrive. Lastly, my different priorities embody well being care entry, financial alternative, and training.
Jones: Texas 18 has quite a few high priorities that I have to work to deal with. And so, to that finish, nobody will struggle tougher than me to cease Trump cuts to healthcare and Medicaid, Social Safety, training, and veterans. I’ll struggle to decrease the price of pharmaceuticals, develop protection for psychological well being care, and substance abuse, and make healthcare extra reasonably priced and accessible for all of us.
Inexpensive housing can be certainly one of my high priorities in District 18—particularly for people who find themselves unhoused, residing with psychological sickness, seniors on fastened incomes, and people struggling to seek out regular employment. I’ll proceed preventing to create apprenticeship packages and develop job coaching alternatives that put together individuals for well-paying, steady careers. Everybody deserves a secure place to dwell and the flexibility to earn a residing with dignity.
Menefee: My high precedence is giving households in our district a good shot on the American Dream.
There was once a time on this nation when you possibly can work one job, purchase a house, increase a household, and retire with dignity. However now, households in our district are working two and three jobs, can’t afford housing, don’t have any financial savings, and are pushing aside retirement. In the meantime, the richest 0.1% have the identical wealth as the underside 85% of Individuals. That’s fallacious, and Congress ought to be doing one thing about it. We have to flip the script.
Meaning elevating the minimal wage. It means investing in job coaching packages that truly result in high-paying careers. It means passing Medicare for All so no person goes bankrupt simply because they obtained sick. We should strengthen unions, develop tax credit that assist working individuals, and put money into small enterprise progress in communities which were ignored for too lengthy. We will pay for this by asking billionaires and firms to pay their fair proportion. A 2% to 4% tax on the ultra-wealthy – individuals with a web value over $50 million – and shutting company tax loopholes will fund the longer term our communities deserve.
America has to work for all of us, not simply the ultra-rich. Each single day I present up in Congress, I’ll be preventing to present households throughout the district a good shot on the American Dream.
Montiel: My high precedence is financial empowerment for our households and communities. District 18 deserves entry to raised jobs, safer neighborhoods, high quality training, and reasonably priced healthcare. Too lots of our households are struggling due to poor management and misplaced priorities. I’ll work to draw new funding into our district, help small companies, develop job coaching, and strengthen public security so each household can thrive, not simply survive.
With voting rights and democracy underneath assault, what are your plans to deal with these challenges?
Jones: We’ve got to take again Democratic management of the Home of Representatives and use that platform to cease Trump and save our democracy. Suing Trump is nice, however it’s not sufficient. Trump is just not frightened of attorneys as a result of he owns the Supreme Courtroom. Solely Congress can cease Trump — we are able to defund his packages, vote in opposition to all of his payments, examine the hell out of him, expose his corruption, and impeach him. I do know extra in regards to the assaults on voting rights than anyone on this race.
I turned one of the distinguished faces of the quorum break as a result of I used to be already educating individuals about redistricting and what the state deliberate to do—earlier than any official redistricting committees had been even introduced. I believed it was important that my constituents in Home District 147 and in Texas 18 understood the stakes early, so that they may very well be ready to defend our voting rights in the course of the redistricting hearings and assist us construct the strongest file potential for the courts…
Within the legislature, I voted in opposition to each single invoice that sought to restrict voting rights—from requiring solely Texas-issued IDs and delivery certificates to rejecting Social Safety playing cards as correct identification. I additionally voted in opposition to the constitutional modification pushed in a low-turnout election claiming that “non-citizens can’t vote”—which is already the regulation. There have been quite a few payments designed to suppress the vote, and I voted in opposition to all of them. My file and my votes show that defending voting rights isn’t simply my speaking level—it’s my life’s work.
In Congress, I’ll co-sponsor the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Development Act to revive and strengthen protections in opposition to racial discrimination in voting and make sure that each eligible voter has equal entry to the poll field. I’ll co-sponsor the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act as nicely, which addresses police accountability, bans chokeholds and no-knock warrants, and helps re-entry packages and community-based policing reform.
Menefee: Voting rights aren’t simply coverage to me, they’re private. My grandfather needed to pay a ballot tax to vote. I grew up going to public colleges on this district, in a state that has spent many years attempting to silence Black voters. That’s why I’ve spent my total profession defending the suitable to vote.
As Harris County Legal professional, I’ve been one of the efficient defenders of democracy within the nation. I sued to cease Ken Paxton from throwing out 2,100 legally forged ballots in Harris County, and I gained. I stood up for native election officers – like our gifted County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth – when Republican leaders attacked them. I even helped make certain individuals within the county jail who haven’t been convicted of a criminal offense might vote.I didn’t cease there. I joined nationwide lawsuits to defend voting rights in states like Arkansas and Tennessee.
I’ve been loud, clear, and constant about the truth that Trump and MAGA Republicans try to rig our voting programs. In Congress, I’ll struggle to cross the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. I’ll push to dam states with traditionally racist practices from altering their voting guidelines with out federal oversight. I’ll push for computerized and same-day registration, expanded early voting, protections for election staff, and an finish to politicians drawing unfair maps.
I’ve been within the struggle. I’ve taken the hits. And I’ve gained. Now I’m able to take that very same struggle to Washington.
Montiel: As somebody who got here to this nation searching for freedom and alternative, I understand how treasured democracy really is. I’ll defend the integrity of our elections, make sure that each authorized vote is counted, and promote civic training so individuals perceive their rights and tasks as residents. Defending democracy additionally means restoring belief by bringing transparency, accountability, and religion again into authorities.
Edwards: With respect to safeguarding voting rights, Texas has been the nationwide vanguard within the erosion of our primary democratic rights for years. With the extra Supreme Courtroom risk to Voting Rights looming and key parts equivalent to preclearance having already been stripped away, our speedy consideration to revive voting rights is totally needed.
As a Member of Congress, I’ll make it my mission to advertise a complete strategy to securing our democracy. I might be a tireless champion to revive the protections of the John Lewis Voting Rights Act – together with the flexibility underneath Part 2 to create and defend coalition districts within the aftermath of the Fifth Circuit ruling – and would work onerous to assist cross the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Why are you the suitable particular person to construct upon the legacy of previous District 18 leaders?
Menefee: As a result of I’m not only a talker, I’m a fighter who wins. Individuals on this district are bored with guarantees with no file to again them up. They need somebody they’ll belief to go to Congress and really get issues accomplished. I’ve already delivered.
When Trump lower $10.5 million in healthcare funding, I sued and obtained that cash again for our communities. When Ken Paxton tried to throw out our communities’ votes after an election, I beat him in courtroom. When MAGA Republicans handed legal guidelines banning ladies from making their very own selections over their our bodies, I joined lawsuits to guard reproductive rights. I’ve defended democracy, healthcare, abortion entry, and dealing households each step of the way in which.
That’s why Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett is asking voters to ship me to Washington. It’s why former Congresswoman Erica Lee Carter, the daughter of the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, is backing my marketing campaign. And it’s why labor unions, neighborhood advocates, and religion leaders throughout Houston are standing with me. Barbara Jordan stood as much as Nixon. Mickey Leland fought world starvation. Sheila Jackson Lee championed the Violence Towards Ladies Act. You honor their legacy by exhibiting up, preventing onerous, and delivering for the individuals. That’s what I’ve accomplished, and it’s what I’ll hold doing in Congress.
Montiel: I deeply respect the historical past and legacy of management in District 18, however it’s time to construct a brand new chapter targeted on unity, alternative, and outcomes. I’m not a profession politician. I’m an actual property dealer, journalist, mom, and advocate who has spent years serving and listening to our numerous communities. My life story, from Venezuela to the USA, represents resilience, religion, and the American dream. I’ll honor the previous whereas main our district towards a stronger, safer, and extra affluent future.
Edwards: We stand on the shoulders of nice leaders like Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leland, Craig Washington, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Sylvester Turner who’ve created a legacy of preventing for individuals and for justice. That’s the reason I’m proud to have earned the endorsement of Alison Leland, Mickey Leland’s widow.
I consider one of the simplest ways to honor their legacy is to construct upon their work by standing up and preventing for justice it doesn’t matter what the implications could also be and restoring the neighborhood’s vote and amplifying the neighborhood’s voice and reengaging within the struggle for justice.
Along with preserving this legacy, with the following leg of the journey we should additionally forge a brand new path ahead for the way forward for our district, one which meets at the moment’s challenges with innovation, options and transformative outcomes for the individuals of District 18 who’ve been disenfranchised for a lot too lengthy.
Jones: The historic 18th Congressional District has at all times despatched warriors to Congress: Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leland, Craig Washington, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Sylvester Turner. These are leaders who’ve confronted battle—racism, poverty, Jim Crow legal guidelines—and used that have to struggle for his or her constituents. That’s my story too.
I fought my method out of poverty within the hood, and I’ve been preventing for individuals ever since. I helped shut down Houston’s corrupt crime lab, helped prolong Medicaid protection for brand new moms and their infants, and lower taxes for seniors and owners. My life experiences mirror the struggles the individuals of Texas 18 face underneath this Trump administration.
I’m a 30-year trial lawyer whose shoppers are on a regular basis individuals—similar to my constituents—who stroll into my workplace with issues brought on by individuals or programs extra highly effective than they’re. My job is to struggle again for them, and that’s what I do day-after-day. I’ve drafted and handed laws—and efficiently navigated it by way of each the Texas Home and Senate, and even by way of a Republican governor’s workplace. Meaning I understand how to work throughout the aisle when applicable—with out ever promoting out my Democratic ideas or my road credibility.
I’ve additionally accomplished a number of full phrases in elected workplace, by no means quitting mid-term to run for one thing else. And I’ve gained 11 elections proper right here in Texas 18, whereas my opponents mixed have gained solely three. The individuals of this district know me, belief me, and have constantly chosen me to struggle for them—as a result of I actually and figuratively have a monitor file of doing precisely that. Being a trial lawyer means being fast in your toes, ready for battle, and unafraid to struggle your individual fights. I don’t rent different individuals to do it for me—I do it myself. That grit, that fearlessness, and that file of outcomes are precisely what Texas 18 deserves in Congress. My 30 years of preventing for the individuals uniquely put together me to struggle for them there.
