Texas' 18th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)

	2026 → ← 2022
Texas' 18th Congressional District
	General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: December 11, 2023
	Primary: March 5, 2024; General: November 5, 2024; Pre-election incumbent:; Sheila Jackson Lee (D)
How to vote
	Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Voting in Texas
Race ratings
	Cook Partisan Voter Index (2024): D+23; Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic; DDHQ and The Hill: Safe Democratic; Inside Elections: Solid Democratic; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
	U.S. Senate battlegrounds; U.S. House battlegrounds; Federal and state primary competitiveness; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
See also
	Texas' 18th Congressional District; U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th • 16th • 17th • 18th • 19th • 20th • 21st • 22nd • 23rd • 24th • 25th • 26th • 27th • 28th • 29th • 30th • 31st • 32nd • 33rd • 34th • 35th • 36th • 37th • 38th; Texas elections, 2024; U.S. Congress elections, 2024; U.S. Senate elections, 2024; U.S. House elections, 2024; Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

Texas 2024 elections

U.S. Senate • U.S. House • Congressional special elections • State executive offices • State Senate • State House • Special state legislative • Supreme court • Appellate courts • Local ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • Recalls • All other local • How to run for office

Incumbent Sheila Jackson Lee (D) won the Democratic primary for Texas' 18th Congressional District on March 5, 2024. She defeated Amanda Edwards (D). The general election was on November 5, 2024.

According to the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, the 2024 Democratic primary was expected to be the "closest race for the position in decades."^[1] Ten of the 14 Democratic primaries since Jackson Lee's initial election in 1994 were uncontested, and this was the most competitive primary election since then.^[2]

Political commentators said Jackson Lee's loss in the 2023 Houston mayoral election could have made her uniquely vulnerable this year. John Whitmire defeated Jackson Lee 64.4% to 35.6% in that race. Michael O. Adams, political science professor at Texas Southern University, said, "with the mayoral showing there are questions about whether or not there may be time for a change, and that’s what the message I’ve seen already is coming from the Amanda Edwards camp."^[3]

Edwards was a candidate in the Houston mayoral race, but withdrew and endorsed Jackson Lee when she declared her candidacy. After Jackson Lee decided to run for Texas' 18th Congressional District, Edwards released a statement reiterating her intent to stay in the race, calling for “new ideas, new solutions, and new leadership in Congress.”^[2]

Jackson Lee said she was committed to change every year she returns to Congress. Jackson Lee said she had unfinished business in Congress, including immigration reform, appropriations from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and completion of the Emancipation Trail that runs from Galveston to Houston. ^[2] On immigration, Jackson Lee supported securing the border and bringing "close to 12 million illegal immigrants out of the shadows of society through earned access to legalization."^[4]

Edwards said the district was ready for change and deserved a leader who can deal with the district's challenges by "applying a fresh perspective and an innovative approach."^[5]Edwards’ priorities included bringing a housing solutions center to the district, expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and preventing abortion bans.^[6]^[2] ^[7] Edwards said she would work to increase investment in transportation, flood mitigation infrastructure, and provide disaster recovery in the district.^[6]

Robert Slater (D) completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. To read those survey responses, click here.

This page focuses on Texas' 18th Congressional District's Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's general election, see the following page:

Texas' 18th Congressional District election, 2024

Candidates and election results

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 18

Incumbent Sheila Jackson Lee defeated Amanda Edwards and Robert Slater (Unofficially withdrew) in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 18 on March 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Sheila Jackson Lee	60.0	23,629
	Amanda Edwards	37.3	14,668
	Robert Slater (Unofficially withdrew)	2.7	1,059

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 39,356
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Jasmine Blue (D)
Isaiah Martin (D)

Voting information

See also: Voting in Texas

Election information in Texas: March 5, 2024, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

In-person: Feb. 5, 2024
By mail: Postmarked by Feb. 5, 2024
Online: N/A

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

No

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

In-person: Feb. 23, 2024
By mail: Received by Feb. 23, 2024
Online: Feb. 23, 2024

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

In-person: March 5, 2024
By mail: Postmarked by March 5, 2024

Was early voting available to all voters?

N/A

What were the early voting start and end dates?

Feb. 20, 2024 to March 1, 2024

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When were polls open on Election Day?

7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (CST/MST)

Candidate comparison

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Amanda Edwards

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office:

Houston City Council (2016-2020)

Biography: Edwards graduated from Emory University in 2004 and Harvard Law School in 2007. After obtaining her law degree, Edwards clerked for Judge Ivan Lemelle and founded NOW: The New Orleans Writing Project. She later returned to Houston and entered private practice.

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

Edwards said her goal was to bring a housing solutions center to the district. She said the district needed "a case management service, and it needs to be staffed by multi-governmental agencies. That way you have the collaboration between governmental agencies and entities."

Edwards said in order to promote small businesses, she would work to increase the use of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to distribute more resources to small businesses of color. Edwards said the use of those tools "are great ways to get more money in the hands of some of our mom and pop shops in the neighborhoods that need our support and need the access to capital."

On labor and employment, Edwards said she would work to expand apprenticeship programs, lower the cost of higher education, and provide training for activities tied to carbon capture.

Show sources

Sources: Amanda Edwards for Houston, "Home," accessed March 23, 2024 Youtube.com, "Amanda Edwards for Congress | Policy to the People 2," accessed March 23, 2024Youtube.com, "Amanda Edwards for Congress | Policy to the People," accessed March 23, 2024

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Texas District 18 in 2024.

Robert Slater

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography: "I'm Robert Slater, and I'm running for Congress in Houston's 18th District. My campaign is focused on changing the narrative and working towards a brighter future for our community. My vision is to create an inclusive society where everyone has equal access to education, healthcare and other fundamental needs. I believe that by working together, we can build a better future for all."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

Entrepreneurship opportunities/Jobs and wages

Mental Health

2nd chance at life initiatives for veterans, homelessness and individual with criminal records

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Texas District 18 in 2024.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign ads

Sheila Jackson Lee

Ballotpedia did not come across any campaign ads for Sheila Jackson Lee while conducting research on this election. If you are aware of any ads that should be included, please email us.

Amanda Edwards

February 21, 2024

February 6, 2024

January 24, 2024

View more ads here:

Endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

Click the links below to see official endorsement lists published on candidate campaign websites for any candidates that make that information available. If you are aware of a website that should be included, please email us.

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, when available. No polls were available for this election. To notify us of polls published in this election, please email us.

Race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.^[8]
Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.^[9]^[10]^[11]

Race ratings: Texas' 18th Congressional District election, 2024
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 5, 2024	October 29, 2024	October 22, 2024	October 15, 2024
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Election spending

Campaign finance

Name

Party

Receipts*

Disbursements**

Cash on hand

Date

Sheila Jackson Lee

Democratic Party

$553,256

$913,259

$12,657

As of December 31, 2024

Lana Centonze

Republican Party

$69,381

$0

As of December 31, 2024

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.^[12]^[13]^[14]

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

By candidate	By election
Sheila Jackson Lee Amanda Edwards	Open Secrets Federal Election Commission

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

District map

Competitiveness
Presidential elections

State party control

Below was the map in use at the time of the election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Texas.

Texas U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Year	Districts/ offices	Seats	Open seats	Candidates	Possible primaries	Contested Democratic primaries	Contested Republican primaries	% of contested primaries	Incumbents in contested primaries	% of incumbents in contested primaries
2024	38	38	3	160	76	16	23	51.3%	19	54.3%
2022	38	38	6	222	76	17	27	57.9%	19	59.4%
2020	36	36	6	231	72	24	26	69.4%	18	60.0%
2018	36	36	8	212	72	25	21	63.9%	15	53.6%
2016	36	36	2	127	72	13	20	45.8%	19	55.9%
2014	36	36	1	100	72	6	13	26.4%	12	34.3%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Texas in 2024. Information below was calculated on 1/29/2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

In 2024, 164 candidates filed to run for Texas’ 38 U.S. House districts, including 63 Democrats and 101 Republicans. That was 4.3 candidates per district, the lowest number since 2016, when 3.5 candidates ran.

In 2022, the first election after the number of congressional districts in Texas increased from 36 to 38, 5.8 candidates ran per district. In 2020, 6.4 candidates ran, and 5.8 candidates ran in 2018.

The 164 candidates who ran in 2024 were also the fewest total number to run since 2016, when 127 candidates ran. One hundred candidates ran for Texas’ then-36 districts in 2014, the fewest in the decade, while 231 ran in 2020, the decade-high.

Three seats were open. That was the fewest since 2016, when two seats were open. Six seats were open in 2022 and 2020, and eight were in 2018—the decade-high.

Reps. Kay Granger (R-12th) and Michael Burgess (R-26th) retired from public office. Rep. Colin Allred (D-32nd) didn't seek re-election in order to run for the U.S. Senate. Fourteen candidates—10 Democrats and 4 Republicans—ran for the open 32nd district, the most candidates who ran for a seat in 2024.

Thirty-nine primaries—16 Democratic and 23 Republican—were contested this year. That was the fewest since 2016, when 33 were contested. There were 44 contested primaries in 2022, 50 in 2020, and 46 in 2018.

Nineteen incumbents—six Democrats and thirteen Republicans—faced primary challengers this year. That was the same number as 2022, and one more than in 2020.

Three districts—the 9th, the 20th, and the 30th—were guaranteed to Democrats because no Republicans filed to run. Five were guaranteed to Republicans because no Democrats filed to run—the 1st, the 11th, the 13th, the 19th, and the 25th.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+23. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 23 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Texas' 18th the 47th most Democratic district nationally.^[15]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in Texas' 18th based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden	Donald Trump
73.6%	25.1%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.^[16] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline	Republican Baseline	Difference
68.2	29.8	R+38.4

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Texas, 2020

Texas presidential election results (1900-2020)

16 Democratic wins
15 Republican wins

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Winning Party	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	D	D	D	R	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

See also: Party control of Texas state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Texas' congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Texas
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	0	12	12
Republican	2	25	27
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	1	1
Total	2	38	40

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Texas' top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in Texas, May 2024
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Greg Abbott
Lieutenant Governor	Dan Patrick
Secretary of State	Jane Nelson
Attorney General	Ken Paxton

State legislature

Texas State Senate

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	11
	Republican Party	19
	Other	0
	Vacancies	1
Total		31

Texas House of Representatives

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	64
	Republican Party	86
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		150

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.

Texas Party Control: 1992-2024
Three years of Democratic trifectas • Twenty-two years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
Governor	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
Senate	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

Election context

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Texas in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Texas, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
Texas	U.S. House	Democratic or Republican	2% of votes cast for governor in the district in the last election, or 500, whichever is less	$3,125.00	12/11/2023	Source
Texas	U.S. House	Unaffiliated	5% of all votes cast for governor in the district in the last election, or 500, whichever is less	N/A	12/11/2023	Source

District election history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2018.

2022

See also: Texas' 18th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Texas District 18

Incumbent Sheila Jackson Lee defeated Carmen Montiel, Vince Duncan, and Phil Kurtz in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 18 on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Sheila Jackson Lee (D)	70.7	110,511
	Carmen Montiel (R)	26.2	40,941
	Vince Duncan (Independent)	1.8	2,766
	Phil Kurtz (L)	1.3	2,050

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 156,268
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.