Longtime Texas Democrat Al Green was forced into a runoff with fellow Democrat Christian Menefee after neither candidate exceeded 50 percent in the March primary.
The runoff is scheduled for May 26 to determine the party’s nominee in Texas’s 18th Congressional District.
Republican-led redistricting put both incumbents in the same Houston-area seat and produced this rare incumbent-versus-incumbent matchup.
Because the district heavily favors Democrats, the winner of the runoff is strongly positioned to win the general election.
Green, who has served the Houston area for more than two decades and is approaching his 80th birthday, has built a national profile through theatrical protests against President Donald Trump.
He previously waved his cane during a confrontation with Trump in Congress and was later formally censured by the House for violating decorum.
During Trump’s 2026 State of the Union address, Green stood in the aisle holding a sign that read “BLACK PEOPLE AREN’T APES!” and was escorted out of the chamber.
Green said the sign protested a social media video Trump had shared that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, and that post was later deleted.
Those removals during consecutive Trump addresses have become a defining feature of Green’s recent political profile.
His opponent, 37-year-old Christian Menefee, won a January 2026 special election to fill the seat left vacant following the death of longtime Houston-area congressman Sylvester Turner.
The contest has taken on a generational tone, with Menefee representing a new wave of Democratic leadership.
Early returns showed Menefee running strong in Harris County while Green performed better in Fort Bend County.
Voter fatigue from multiple recent elections and the geographic split between counties make turnout a crucial factor for the May runoff.
The result will determine whether the district keeps one of its best-known Democratic figures or shifts to a younger representative.
