Democrats scored significant victories in Texas special elections on Saturday, while a partial government shutdown continued in Washington D.C. and a legal battle unfolded over the detention of a father and son seeking asylum.
In Texas, Democrat Christian Menefee won a special election for a U.S. House seat, narrowing the Republican's already slim majority in the House. Menefee, the Harris County attorney, defeated Amanda Edwards, a former Houston City Council member, in a runoff election. The seat, representing a heavily Democratic Houston-based district, had been vacant for nearly a year following the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner in March 2025, according to CBS News. Menefee told President Trump that the Democratic district "topples corrupt presidencies," CBS News reported.
Also in Texas, Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped a GOP-held state Senate seat in a special election. The Associated Press reported that Rehmet, a labor union leader and veteran, defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss, a conservative activist, in the Fort Worth-area district. Rehmet won by a comfortable lead of more than 14 percentage points, flipping a reliably Republican district that President Donald Trump won by 17 points in 2024, according to ABC News.
Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., a partial government shutdown was expected to last longer than initially anticipated. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats would not join Republicans in expediting the passage of the Senate-passed funding package, ABC News reported. The Senate voted Friday to separate out extended funding for the Department of Homeland Security after reaching a deal with the White House.
Separately, in Texas, a federal judge ordered the release of a 5-year-old boy and his father, asylum seekers who were arrested last week in Minnesota. U.S. District Judge Fred Biery ordered Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, released from the immigration detention center at Dilley "as soon as practicable" but no later than Feb. 3, according to ABC News. The judge's order prohibited any removal or transfer of the petitioners while under detention.
In Illinois, an updated story from CBS News detailed the case of an Illinois firefighter accused of staging a house fire in November 2020 to cover up a murder and a secret. The fire occurred at the home of Melissa Lamesch, who was due to give birth to a baby boy in two days. According to CBS News, Lamesch's sister, Cassie Baal, spoke with her the morning of the fire, and Lamesch mentioned that someone was outside her window, saying, "you gotta be kidding me...he's freaking here again. I told him he's gotta stop doing this."
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