This Democrat Wants Sheila Jackson Lee’s Seat—and to Move Houston Left

On Thursday evening, at-large Houston City councilwoman Letitia Plummer announced that she’s seeking the nomination for the late Sheila Jackson Lee’s congressional seat. If elected, Plummer would become the first Muslim woman to represent Texas in Congress.

Jackson Lee held Texas’s gerrymandered-to-hell 18th district—contorted into the shape of a partially eaten donut to encompass Houston’s mostly Black and brown north—for the better part of 30 years, and was arguably one of Texas’s more progressive legislators. When she died of pancreatic cancer in mid-July, it didn’t take long for those waiting in the wings to announce intentions to replace her. In a statement, Plummer wrote that she plans on “continuing [Jackson Lee’s] tradition of robust and unapologetic advocacy.”

Plummer, a dentist by trade, touted her support from labor and her City Hall record focusing on “quality of life issues” for underserved communities—a common touchstone for Houston politicians, given the repeated and intensifying environmental crises plaguing the city. When asked, she also said she would support a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and oppose all military funding to Israel, a major departure from her predecessor. “I do believe I would be the only one [in this race] that would take that level of hard stance,” she told The New Republic. “I obviously am against any level of terrorism, but we cannot continue to kill innocent people.” Two hours after this article was published, she backtracked, saying she didn’t hear the full question, and clarified that she believed Israel needed military support for defense and “release of the hostages and the establishment of a permanent ceasefire are both necessary.” *

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has yet to call for a special election for Jackson Lee’s seat, so instead, per Texas law, the race will be decided in a few weeks by just 88 Democratic Party precinct chairs representing parts of the 18th congressional district, a truncated process meant to fill the seat in a crunch. In seeking the party’s nomination, Plummer has chosen her words carefully so as not to jeopardize her current city hall position; local precedent says officeholders can technically “seek” the nomination to become the party’s candidate but can’t “announce his or her candidacy,” which would trigger the state constitution’s provision for automatic resignation. Adding Plummer to the list brings the total number of potential nominees up to five, with likely more to come.

Foremost among the potential nominees is Houston’s former mayor Sylvester Turner, a Bloomberg type, who on July 23 told a local TV station he was “seriously considering” throwing his hat in the ring before quickly backtracking—deeming it may be in bad taste to campaign before Jackson Lee’s funeral. Plummer, Turner’s erstwhile adversary in city hall, described her potential nomination in opposition to his: “Although his intentions may be good, I believe that this position not only needs someone that can carry on the legacy [of Jackson Lee] but also can create a new vision for CD-18, and I’m the only candidate, in comparison obviously, that has the record of doing the work in the overarching community,” she told The New Republic.

When Turner was mayor, it was not uncommon for him and Plummer to butt heads on environmental justice and housing issues. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Turner refused to pass an eviction grace period for tenants, which Plummer and other advocates said would have given people more time to scrap together the funds to remain housed. Where much of City Hall typically erred toward silence, lest they draw ire from the mayor who until recently completely controlled the council’s agenda, Plummer made a habit of publicly dissenting. By the time he finally brought a grace period ordinance to council in late February 2021, thousands had been evicted. (It apparently took bad press from Good Morning America about a Houston teenager using her college savings on keeping her mom housed to compel him to do so.)

Under Houston’s new mayor, the conservative Democrat John Whitmire, Plummer has maintained a similar role, but she asserted that, compared to Turner, she has a better relationship with Whitmire, who frequently blames his predecessor for the city’s longstanding problems. “We all are very clear on the relationship the previous mayor and the current mayor have, and I think that someone in the CD-18 seat really has to have a good working relationship at the municipal level.”

Jackson Lee was a Houston institution; her office served as a kind of incubator for a generation of local politicians. Amanda Edwards, Jackson Lee’s only competitive opponent in this spring’s primary, was once her intern; so, too, was Isaiah Martin, the flash-in-the-pan Gen Z candidate who entered the race for the 18th congressional district last year and, per The Intercept, “ignored his generation’s priorities” before soon after dropping out.

But Turner, age 69, is an institution in his own right. With deep pockets and powerful allies, he’s maintained a decades-long career in politics, jumping from the state house to mayorship and now, possibly, to Congress. At this point, given his long standing relationships with many of the district’s precinct chairs, it’s Turner’s race to lose. As the Houston Landing wrote, this process has long been, in essence, a coronation for powerful local leaders. But Plummer asserted it’s time to “look at things from a different perspective.” In less than a month, we’ll see if the Harris County Democratic Party agrees.

* This article has been updated with further information from Plummer on her views on military funding to Israel.