A special runoff election for Texas' 18th Congressional District will be held Jan. 31, Gov. Greg Abbott announced via a Nov. 17 proclamation.

What's happening? As previously reported by Community Impact, 16 candidates ran in the Nov. 4 special-called election for District 18, including five Republicans, seven Democrats, three independent candidates and one Green Party candidate. The top two vote-getters—Democratic candidates Christian Dashaun Menefee and Amanda Edwards—received 28.9%, or 22,022 votes, and 25.55%, or 19,467 votes, respectively, per results posted on the Harris County Clerk's Office website.

As neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote, Menefee and Edwards will face each other once again in a special runoff election Jan. 31. Per the proclamation, early voting will run from Jan. 21-27.

Something to note: Voters should note the special runoff election for District 18 is being held separately from other Nov. 4 races that resulted in a runoff.

The Rothko Chapel held a Nov. 14 ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Kathleen and Chuck Mullenweg Peace and Reflection Garden.

The overview: The ceremony included remarks from the chapel’s newly appointed president, Abdullah Antepli, and Christopher Rothko, son of artist Mark Rothko, whose work the chapel displays.

A closer look: Created in 1971, the Rothko Chapel is a space that embodies the intersection of art, spirituality and human rights. The chapel holds 14 murals painted by Mark Rothko, an internationally acclaimed mid-20th-century artist. The Kathleen and Chuck Mullenweg Peace and Reflection Garden is part of the Opening Spaces Campaign, a $51 million project to create new facilities and enhance the chapel’s grounds.

• 3900 Yupon St., Houston

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on Nov. 12 announced a $2.5 billion philanthropic campaign—the largest in the center’s history—to support cancer-fighting initiatives.

Read all about it: MD Anderson already raised $1.9 billion for the campaign, called “Only Possible Here,” during a preliminary silent fundraising phase, according to a Nov. 12 news release. The Houston-based center focuses exclusively on treating, researching and preventing cancer.

The campaign’s three focus areas include expanding reach, expediting breakthroughs and elevating the patient experience, all with the goal of ending cancer, per the release. Money raised throughout the campaign will support several MD Anderson programs and initiatives, including the Cancer Neuroscience Program and Kinder Children's Cancer Center, among others. 

Quote of note: “This campaign presents an opportunity for anyone to become involved in the world's most important and impactful effort to end cancer,” campaign Chair Clarence P. Cazalot Jr. said in a Nov. 12 statement.   

Texas cannot use its newly redrawn congressional map in the 2026 election, an El Paso federal court ruled Nov. 18.

The details: The state must instead use the congressional map that Texas lawmakers drew in 2021, after the 2020 census. 

“The public perception of this case is that it’s about politics,” U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown wrote in the Nov. 18 preliminary injunction. “To be sure, politics played a role in drawing the 2025 map. But it was much more than just politics. Substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map.”

What they're saying: Texas Republican leaders said they would “swiftly appeal” the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court. If the court takes up the case, its justices will be pressed for time ahead of the Dec. 8 deadline for candidates to apply to run in the March primary elections.

Texas Democrats celebrated the Nov. 18 ruling as "very good news for Texans."