House District 18 seat will appear in ballot twice in November: Here's why

Election Day is now less than a month away. The seat for U.S. House District 18 is up for grabs. This seat has been held by the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for the last three decades.

If you're a District 18 voter, this race will appear on your ballot twice: as a special election item and in the general election.

The congresswoman's death that before her term ended, leaving the seat vacant, so the special election for the unexpired term will fill her role from Election Day until the end of the year.

"This is not what we call a swing district," political science expert Richard Murray said. "It's very heavily democratic, so control of Congress is not going to be affected by what happens in the 18th district."

Long-time political science expert Richard Murray says the district was first created in 1972 as a black legacy district.

"It used to have a lot of heavily black precincts, but there are fewer now, and now more mixed neighborhoods. More Hispanics, some Asians- different district," Murray said. "It is almost always will expect to elect a black Democrat going forward."

St. Thomas University Associate Political Science professor Christopher Wolfe told ABC13 the upcoming election could be a bit confusing for some as this seat will appear twice on the ballot of those who live in District 18.

"For the two months right after the election until January, someone else will actually fill the seat for that period of time," Wolfe said.

They say people need to understand that along with deciding who will sit in until the year is over, voters in the district will also need to vote to decide who will take on the seat for the next two-year term that starts in January.

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