Sheila Jackson Lee’s children endorse Sylvester Turner for her House seat

The children of the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) endorsed former Houston, Texas, Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) for her House seat on Monday.

The late congresswoman’s children, Jason Lee and Erica Lee Carter, said in a statement they are endorsing Turner to succeed their mother in the seat. Jackson Lee’s family announced the congresswoman’s death on July 19, just more than one month after she revealed she had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and was undergoing treatment.

“While no one will ever replace Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, there must be a successor. Our greatest hope is that her immediate successor has the capacity and commitment to sustain the service upon which the constituents of the 18th District have come to rely. For that reason we are proud to endorse Sylvester Turner for the 18th Congressional District,” her children said in a statement.

“We have no doubt Mayor Turner will carry on our mother’s legacy of service because we’ve witnessed it almost our entire lives. Our mother had no greater partner than Mayor Turner and he honors her with his willingness to dutifully and humbly serve as a sturdy bridge to the next generation of leadership for the historic 18th Congressional District of Texas,” they continued.

Turner announced last week that he would be running for Jackson Lee’s seat in Texas’s 18th Congressional District, describing her as a “dear friend.”

“Only Sheila’s passing at this critical moment in the election cycle could bring me out of retirement. Given all the uncertainty at the national level, I believe the 18th District needs stability and continuity in leadership,” he said in his announcement.

Turner, 69, served as the mayor of Houston from 2016 to 2024. He had endorsed Jackson Lee to be his successor for the office, but she lost the race last year to Texas state Sen. John Whitmire (D).

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced Friday that the special election to fill the vacant seat left by Jackson Lee will be on Nov. 5, which is the same day as the general election. The special election will only fill her seat until her term is up in January.

Separately, the general election will decide who will serve out a full two-year term. The Texas Tribune reported that 88 Democratic precinct chairs in the district will be voting on the replacement nominee for the general election ballot on Aug. 13 since Jackson Lee won the Democratic primary earlier this year following her unsuccessful mayoral campaign.

“I am very grateful to Jason and Erica for their support,” Turner wrote Monday in a post on the social platform X. “It touches my heart and reminds me how much I miss my dear friend Sheila. I agree that ‘no one will ever replace Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee’ but I will work to honor the trust that Jason and Erica have placed in me.”