Democrat Christian Menefee won a special election in Texas on Saturday 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. He will replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, a former Houston mayor, who died in March 2025.
The seat, representing a heavily Democratic district in Houston, had been vacant for nearly a year. Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott scheduled the first round of voting in November, where Menefee and Edwards emerged as the top vote-getters from a 16-candidate, all-parties primary. Because no candidate secured a majority of the vote in November, a runoff election was required.
In his victory speech, Menefee addressed President Donald Trump, stating that the Democratic district "topples corrupt presidencies," according to ABC News.
In other news, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced that Democrats would not help Republicans expedite the passage of the Senate-passed funding package amid a partial government shutdown that went into effect on Saturday, according to ABC News. Jeffries confirmed the Democrats' position in an interview on MSNOW, suggesting the partial shutdown was expected to last longer than initially anticipated. The Senate had voted on Friday to separate out extended funding for the Department of Homeland Security after reaching a deal with the White House.
Meanwhile, the University of Notre Dame's appointment of Susan Ostermann, a professor who has publicly supported abortion access, to lead its Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies has drawn scrutiny, according to Fox News. Ostermann, who joined Notre Dame in 2017 as a global affairs professor, will assume her role as director of the Asian studies center in July. In 2022, Ostermann co-authored an article titled, "Lies about abortion have dictated our health policy," with former Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins.
President Donald Trump said Saturday he believed Iran was negotiating "seriously" with the U.S., stressing that he hoped an "acceptable" deal could be brokered, Fox News reported. The president's comments were made as he reportedly weighed options on a possible military strike on Iran amid widespread protests and a violent crackdown in the country. When asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One whether he had decided on a strike against Iran, Trump responded, "I certainly can't tell you that."
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