Texas voters delivered a resounding message on Tuesday, turning their backs on Democratic state Rep. Jolanda Jones in a special election for the 18th congressional district.
According to the Daily Caller, in a stunning outcome, Jones placed third in the all-party primary, failing to advance to the runoff, which will now pit Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee against former Houston City Councilwoman Amanda Edwards.
The 18th district, a heavily Democratic stronghold in Houston, has seen a revolving door of representatives recently, with this election called to replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner, who passed away in March after just two months in office.
Before Turner, the seat was held by the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who served from 1995 until her passing in July 2024. Her daughter, Erica Lee Carter, briefly took over, only to hold the position for less than two months before Turner succeeded her. Turner, a former Houston mayor, won the seat in a prior contest but tragically couldn’t serve long. Now, the winner of the upcoming runoff between Menefee and Edwards will become the fourth person to represent this district in just over a year.
With 78% of votes tallied, Menefee led with 29.4%, followed by Edwards at 25.7%, while Jones lagged at 18.7%, per Associated Press projections early Wednesday morning. Clearly, the electorate had other ideas for their future.
Jones’ campaign took a dark turn with her inflammatory comments made during an October 22 appearance on CNN. Her words, delivered with a chilling edge, likely didn’t sit well with voters still reeling from recent political violence.
“So, if you hit me in my face, I’m not going to punch you back in your face, I’m going to go across your neck, because we can go back and forth fighting each other’s faces. You’ve got to hit hard enough where they won’t come back,” Jones told CNN’s Erin Burnett on October 22.
That kind of violent imagery, coming just over a month after the tragic assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk on September 10, struck a raw nerve. While passion in politics is expected, advocating for such extreme retaliation crosses a line many Texans couldn’t overlook.
Jones didn’t stop there, doubling down on CNN with a call to arms against Republicans in other states. “And so, yeah, for the same way I went to New York and spoke with Governor Kathy Hochul and said if they’re going to try to wipe us out in Texas, we need to wipe out every Republican in New York, in California, in Illinois, so no one can make me feel bad about fighting for the people that I represent,” she declared.
Such rhetoric, suggesting a political purge, feels less like advocacy and more like a declaration of war on fellow Americans. While Jones may argue she’s defending her constituents, this approach alienates more than it unites, especially in a state that values spirited but civil debate.
Even before the CNN debacle, Jones stirred controversy in August on “The Don Lemon Show” podcast by comparing Texas’ GOP-led redistricting efforts to the Holocaust. Hyperbole in politics isn’t new, but equating policy disagreements to one of history’s greatest atrocities risks trivializing real suffering.
Jones’ past actions, like joining over 50 Democratic state representatives in fleeing Texas to block a redistricting map, also likely didn’t win her points with pragmatic voters. While she framed it as standing up for fairness, many see such stunts as dodging the hard work of governance.
The numbers don’t lie—Jones’ 18.7% showing suggests her brand of confrontational politics failed to resonate in a district hungry for stability after so much turnover. Menefee and Edwards, both Democrats, now have a chance to offer a different tone in the runoff.
As Texas’ 18th district braces for yet another chapter, the rejection of Jones serves as a cautionary tale. Passion is vital, but when it veers into divisive or violent territory, even a reliably blue electorate will push back—hard.