Former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards on Wednesday joined former County Attorney Christian Menefee and former congressional adviser Isaiah Martin in the race for the U.S. House of Representatives District 18.
Edwards, 43, is no stranger to political campaigns. She made two unsuccessful bids for the District 18 seat in 2024, facing off against U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the Democratic primary. Jackson Lee won but died before the general election. Edwards ran again, facing former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who garnered more votes and died earlier this month after just a couple of months on the job.
Echoing the concerns of fellow Democrats already in the District 18 race, Edwards said, “We need someone who can stand up.”
“We’re in unprecedented times with chaos and disarray, people feeling shut out,” she said. “What it’s intended to do is have us disengage and have us go away and sit down. There’s too much at stake for us to go and sit down and have our education get eroded and have our healthcare be dismantled and all the other things that are on the chopping block as we speak. One of the things I think is important in this conversation is making sure we put someone in who can inspire people to stand up with them.”
Related: Hopefuls With Ties to Sheila Jackson Lee Join Race for Vacant District 18 Congressional Seat
Edwards was born and raised in District 18 and worked in Jackson Lee’s Washington, D.C., office 20 years ago. She said her experience as a public finance attorney could be beneficial in securing federal funding for public projects.
And as the congressional race heats up, Edwards said she’s motivated by a personal childhood experience. Her father suffered from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer, and died when Edwards was a teenager.
“I learned through that experience, watching him navigate insurance for his lifesaving care,” she said. “I would say, ‘What happens if they say no to what you need at the time?’ He would just say, ‘We’ll have to figure something else out.’ It’s a life-or-death question. Having a system that’s so disjointed and doesn’t really work isn’t the way to go … Politics and policy and public service really do matter and you’ve got to bring a sense of urgency for the needs of the people … As you’re not making the right policy decisions or moves, people are losing their lives in some instances. I take that with me and hold that close as I think about the urgency of the issues and getting those systems and policies right.”
Edwards served as a member of the Houston City Council from 2016 to 2020, then lost in the 2020 Democratic primary for a U.S. Senate seat held by John Cornyn. Edwards then ran for Houston mayor in 2023 to replace Turner but dropped out of the race when Jackson Lee entered. Current Mayor John Whitmire won the seat.
As a council member, Edwards learned that Houston was ranked No. 42 in venture capital investment, “which meant we couldn’t have a start-up tech business here to save our lives,” she said.
She put together a task force to create an innovation district, which resulted in The Ion. That building was a catalyst for more than $2 billion in Houston investment, she said.
“It’s been a huge shift in terms of Houston’s stance in the nation as it relates to innovation and tech and start-up economy,” she said. “That’s one thing I’m really proud of because also that wasn’t something I walked in to do. It was brought to me, I listened and then tailored a solution.”
The congressional candidate also got busy after Hurricane Harvey hit the Gulf Coast, bringing 51 inches of rainfall and causing billions of dollars of damage.
“I learned that a lot of seniors were not removing the sheetrock from their homes that had been soiled by the floodwater,” she said. “Of course, if you don’t, you’ll get mold and have all kinds of health issues. We started in my office canvassing low-income areas with high concentrations of seniors to make sure that they were getting the help they needed because they weren’t going to show up at City Hall and ask … They were just going to suffer in silence. We ended up helping so many people with their housing needs. We continued that work for years and in fact I still do that work even though I am no longer on council because we have so many gaps in our housing infrastructure.”
The candidate has also championed minority- and women-owned small businesses and transportation needs.
“We’ve got to do more to invest in transportation infrastructure because our region is growing,” she said. “It’s still very politicized and we’ve got to get out of that space and do what makes sense.”
Edwards said she’s excited for the opportunity to serve the residents of District 18, which includes downtown, part of the Heights, Acres Homes, Third Ward, northeast Houston and the area surrounding George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Humble. The elected representative will have about 800,000 constituents.
But the matter of when District 18 voters can cast their ballots is up to Gov. Greg Abbott, who has just a few days to call an election if it is to be held on May 3.
District 18 has been represented by a Democrat since it moved to Houston in 1972, held by Barbara Jordan, Mickey Leland and Craig Washington prior to Jackson Lee’s election in 1995. Jackson Lee held the post for 29 years and was briefly succeeded after her death by her daughter, Erica Lee Carter, who is now promoting Menefee on the campaign trail.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.
