National progressives back Houston attorney who fought GOP in court in Texas special election

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee on Thursday won the endorsement of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) in the special House election for Texas's 18th District.

Menefee, the youngest County Attorney in Houston history, will face off against a crowded slate of largely young, progressive Democrats vying to represent one of the state's most populous districts following the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner (D) in March.

"Christian is the proven fighter Texas’s 18th district needs. We are proud to back his campaign," Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC members Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said in a statement on Thursday.

They pointed to Menefee's history of "multi-million dollar settlements holding corporations accountable" and his legal fights against Texas Republicans.

Menefee, they wrote, "has a demonstrated record of standing up to Republican overreach and delivering results for working families.”

Menefee told The Hill that Texas progressives occupy a critical role in a national party seeking to claw its way out of the wilderness.

He added that decades under far-right rule have given Texas Democrats something the national party needs: the ability to "be scrappy" and fight against tough odds.

The state's Democrats have been "cast aside" by party members nationally "who don't believe that Texas has the ability to flip," Menefee said.

But faced with Republican control of all three branches of state government,  he argued, Harris County Democrats — and the County Attorney specifically — have repeatedly fought the state GOP to a standstill.

"We're resourceful. We know what it looks like to be in a situation where you feel like your back is up against the wall, where the only thing protecting communities you love and the people you serve is your ability to fight," he said.

"We can show national Democrats how to leave no stone unturned when it comes to trying to advocate for the people we care about," he added.

With a lead in endorsements and funding, Menefee opened the race with a position as "frontrunner," University of Houston political analyst Brandon Rottinghaus told The Houston Chronicle last month.

The endorsement from the CPC, an alliance of 100-plus Democrats focused on issues like securing more pay and less pollution for workers, adds weight to Menefee's pitch that he is part of the party's vigorous new face.

Menefee, who grew up in the district, and credits his current success to social democratic programs like free school lunches, Pell Grants, the G.I. bill — a kind of programming he now sees being threatened by the Trump administration. 

"I've seen how effective the government can be when it works the right way," he told The Hill.

"And I know that if our government works for regular working class people, instead of the wealthy and the well connected, that if there are programs in place that ensure that nobody's left behind, every single person can have a fair shot at the American dream."

Under Menefee, the Harris County Attorney's office has repeatedly pushed back against state attempts to constrict the powers of Harris County, from defending a pilot program that would guarantee basic income to select county residents to fighting against deregulation that his office has argued would increase deadly pollution in the county.

For example, Menefee sued the state environmental regulator over a concrete crushing plant in the middle of a neighborhood. He has also dueled with far-right Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) — who has announced his own run for Sen. John Cornyn's (R) Senate seat — in state and federal court, challenging Paxton last year, for instance, on an attempt to loosen federal standards for pollution from, among others, Harris County's vast fleet of more than 200,000 petrochemical plants.

Menefee's 300-person team also won an $18 million settlement against Volkswagen after suing the company for allegedly manipulating emissions monitoring in its vehicles and $20 million from e-cigarette maker Juul over accusations that it targeted marketing toward minors — wins that put the county budget in the black.

Menefee's pushback against the state government also played a role in making the upcoming special election happen. Turner, a former Houston mayor, previously won the seat in November, but died in office just two months into his term. Following his death, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) took weeks to authorize a special election to replace him — until Menefee threatened to sue him. 

But Menefee also last year announced his willingness to work across the aisle with Paxton in investigations of CenterPoint Energy, the Houston-area utility that saw millions of customers lose power during last year's Hurricane Beryl.  

Beyond the Texas GOP, Menefee has scored victories against the Trump administration as well: for example, a lawsuit from his office resulted in the administration unfreezing $10 million in funding for refugee healthcare last month.

Texans "can have political differences from a policy perspective, but what you're seeing out of like modern MAGA Republicans in elected office is much different," Menefee told The Hill.

For his courtroom opponents, he said, "it's not about making the best policy, it's about proving a point."

He told The Hill that he believes that both MAGA Republicans and many national-party Democrats have left a lane open for their future opponents.

"The base is crying out for a fight from their elected leaders. They're tired of seeing Donald Trump and Elon Musk run roughshod over their rights," he said.

And at the same time that "elected Democrats have thrown their hands up and saying, there's nothing we can do here," he said, "in Harris County, we have done a case study on how to fight back against Republicans — zealously, courageously — in the face of what would appear to be insurmountable opposition."