Fox 26 reported that Erica Lee Carter, the daughter of late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, was officially sworn in to take over her mother’s seat in the 18th Congressional District of Texas.
Carter declared her candidacy to fill her mother’s seat in August 2024 after Texas’ Republican Governor, Greg Abbott, called for a special election to fill the seat after Lee passed following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Her election didn’t come as a shock. After her mother’s death, Carter said in a statement, “I want to finish for my mom!”
After taking the oath in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 12, she addressed her fellow Congress members and alluded to her excitement about working with them.
“Thank you to the voters of the 18th Congressional District of Texas for entrusting me with the remainder of the term for the 118th Congress.
“I am honored to finish for you and in the memory of my mother, the late great Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee,” Carter said, according to Click 2 Houston.
“I am ready to stand up and work for you. I look forward to collaborating with Speaker Mike Johnson, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and all of my Congressional colleagues on the important issues facing the United States House of Representatives on behalf of the American people.”
Carter will fill the seat until Jan. 3, 2025. Afterward, former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner will serve the 18th Congressional District of Texas after the results of Election Day.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee held the position from 1995 until her death. Carter documented her journey on X, formerly known as Twitter, posting a picture of her seated in her mother’s old office. “It is an indescribable honor and deeply humbling to be sworn in as the next Congresswoman of Texas’ 18th Congressional District,” she tweeted. “Standing here today, I proudly take the place of my mother, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.”
She also posted a touching comparison photo of her giving her first speech to Congress in the same spot where Jackson Lee gave her first speech almost 30 years ago.
Local Texas leaders, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett, offered celebratory words. She extended a “warm welcome” to Carter, who resembles her mother, saying she knows the former Congresswoman “is looking down with pride.”
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