Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-TX), who survived a battle with bone cancer in 2022, died earlier this month at age 70.

In 2020, former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner made Houston the first city in the U.S to create an entire office dedicated to the prevention of human trafficking — and the need for it was ripe. But specifics as to any recent work through the Mayor's Office of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence Prevention has been unclear this year,

The former Houston mayor’s funeral drew more than 1,000 mourners on Saturday, including 20 of his congressional colleagues from both political parties.

The district has been a Democratic stronghold, held for decades by Sheila Jackson Lee and most recently by former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who died March 5.

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee’s decision to announce his candidacy for the vacant Congressional District 18 seat automatically triggered his resignation, and local Republicans already are campaigning for the candidate he beat last November to take over his job.