HOUSTON — U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee has won the Democratic nomination to represent the Houston area for 15th term.
Jackson Lee faced a tight race with former Houston City Councilwoman Amanda Edwards after losing the Houston mayor’s race last year.
Edwards also was running for mayor but dropped out to seek Jackson Lee’s seat when the longtime congresswoman announced her mayoral candidacy.
Jackson Lee did not announce that she would seek reelection to her Houston district until December.
When votes started coming in Tuesday night in Jackson Lee's favor, she addressed supporters.
“They said we were down. They said it would be a close race but look at what the people of the 18th Congressional District said,” Jackson Lee said. “They said we are worthy. We are worthy. So let’s count the votes. We don’t know what the next step will be, but my best wishes to all of my opponents because we wish them the best for their future. Again, I don’t get angry. I get busy.”
Edwards, meanwhile, thanked those who stood by her in her campaign.
"I wanted to celebrate all of you," she said. "So I just want to take a moment to express gratitude for the hard work that each and every one of you have invested in this campaign just to get to this point."
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Edwards served on the Houston City Council in an at-large position from 2016-20. She ran against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in 2020 and finished fifth in a 12-person race.
In 2022, Edwards joined the Houston mayoral race but dropped out last June and announced she was running for Congress.
At that time, Jackson Lee was also running for mayor but she lost to John Whitmire in the December runoff.
First elected to Congress in 1995, Jackson Lee is now in her 14th term in the U.S. House of Representatives. She currently sits on three congressional committees and serves as the Democratic chief deputy whip.
The winner will face the winner of the Republican primary. That's a race between Lana Centonze and Aaron Ray Hermes.
More about Amanda Edwards
Edwards is a native Houstonian.
After graduating from Emery University, she joined Jackson Lee's staff as an intern in Washington, D.C.
She left that job to get her law degree from Harvard before returning to Houston to become an attorney.
Edwards was elected to the Houston City Council in 2015 and served one term.
More about Jackson Lee
Jackson Lee was born in New York and graduated from Yale University.
She got her law degree from the University of Virginia before moving to Houston when her husband, Dr, Elwyn Lee, accepted a job with the University of Houston.
Jackson Lee served as a municipal judge before being elected to the Houston City Council in 1989.
She challenged District 18 incumbent Craig Washington in 1994 and won easily.
Jackson Lee and her husband have two children and two grandchildren.