Texas Republicans claimed the first casualty of their redrawn House map with the landslide defeat of Democratic Rep. Al Green in a primary runoff Tuesday night.
Green, 78, who had served in Congress since 2005 representing Texas’ Ninth District, lost to Democratic Texas Rep. Christian Menefee, 38, after their districts were merged under the Lone Star State’s GOP-backed redistricting plan, which seeks to flip up to five House seats from blue to red. Menefee won 69.4% of the vote in the redrawn 18th district to Green’s 30.6% with more than 95% of ballots counted, according to The Associated Press.
The defeated lawmaker holds the distinction of being ejected from speeches President Donald Trump gave to Congress two years in a row.
House floor staff escorted Green out of the House chamber during Trump’s February State of the Union. The Democrat was carrying a sign bearing the words “BLACK PEOPLE AREN’T APES,” in all capital letters. The sign was a reference to a largely AI-generated video Trump’s account posted to Truth Social earlier that month showing the faces of President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle superimposed onto cartoon ape bodies.
In March 2025, Green interrupted and shouted at Trump during the president’s speech to a joint session of Congress. GOP lawmakers chanted “USA!” to drown him out. House Speaker Mike Johnson gave the Texas Democrat a stern warning that he is “to uphold and maintain the quorum in the House and to cease any further disruptions.” However, Green refused to sit down prompting the speaker to eject him from the chamber.
Green has also tried and failed to impeach Trump six times across the president’s two terms in office. In December 2025, the House overwhelmingly voted to table two articles of impeachment Green filed against the president for purported “abuse of power and incitement of violence and death threats against lawmakers and federal judges.” Twenty-three Democrats voted with Republicans and 47 Democrats, including the party’s House leadership, voted “present.”
“Donald John Trump’s pattern of threatening rhetoric, disregard for democratic norms, and harmful behavior towards lawmakers and federal judges cannot be ignored,” the congressman said in a statement after his articles were voted down. Green cited Trump’s reaction to a video of six Democratic members of Congress calling for the military and intelligence agencies to disobey the president’s “illegal orders,” to justify his recent impeachment push.
Menefee only started serving in Congress in February, after winning a special election to replace the late Democratic Texas Rep. Sylvester Turner in the old 18th District. Green’s old seat, was dismantled under the GOP-drawn mid-decade map, which drew the Ninth district as a solidly Republican seat.
The two Houston-area incumbents initially faced off against each other during the March 3 primary with Menefee edging out Green by just under two percentage points. However, since neither Democrat received a majority of the vote, a runoff was held Tuesday.
Green was not the only incumbent Democrat to lose in a Tuesday primary runoff after his district was dismantled by redistricting. Freshman Democratic Texas Rep. Julie Johnson lost to her predecessor, former Rep. Colin Allred, in the newly redrawn 33rd district. Allred received 53.9% of the vote to Johnson’s 46.1% with more than 95% of the vote in, according to the AP. Johnson’s current seat, the 32nd, was altered to favor Republicans under the new map
Johnson succeeded Allred in 2024, becoming the first openly gay member of Congress representing the former Confederacy. Allred gave up his seat to run for the Senate, losing to incumbent Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
The race between Allred and Johnson divided former primary foes Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who backed Allred, and Democratic Texas Senate nominee James Talarico who supported Johnson. Notably, Allred had initially run in the 2026 Senate primary against Talarico but dropped out and pivoted to the House race against Johnson on Dec. 8, 2025, the same day Crockett announced her candidacy for the Senate.
Both the 18th and 33rd districts are safely Democratic and both Menefee and Allred are virtually guaranteed to win their general elections in November.
Green and Johnson have become the second and third incumbent members of Texas’ House delegations to lose renomination during the 2026 midterm election cycle. Four-term Republican Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw lost his March 3 GOP primary in a landslide to State Rep. Steve Toth, who ran to the hawkish Crenshaw’s right.
A fourth Texas congressman, former Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales — who eventually admitted to having an affair with a staffer who set herself on fire — was pushed into a runoff with challenger Brandon Herrera in March. However, he dropped his reelection bid just two days later, effectively handing the GOP nomination to Herrera. Gonzales resigned from Congress the following month.
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