Nearly 800,000 people living in a district that stretches from northwest San Antonio to El Paso still have no vote in Congress because Gov. Greg Abbott hasn’t set a special election to fill the seat left open by U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales. He resigned last spring under pressure from House Republicans amid a sex scandal.

The Republican-leaning seat has now been vacant for over 130 days, and isn’t on track to be filled until January.

The vacancy comes amid growing bipartisan outrage over a border security construction project in Big Bend National Park, which is part of the district. While Abbott pressured the Department of Homeland Security to pause the project, nearby landowners and residents don’t have a voice in the U.S. House to push back.

What also makes the vacancy especially notable is that California held a special election last week and voters chose Democrat Aisha Wahab to fill the remainder of former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s term. Swalwell, a Democrat, and Gonzales both resigned from Congress on April 14.

Today, Georgia voters are going to the polls to select a candidate to succeed U.S. Rep. David Scott, a Democrat who died the week after Gonzales and Swalwell resigned.

Abbott hasn’t said why he’s delayed setting a special election, but the delicate balance of power in the U.S. House might explain the problem. Republicans will have a 219-214 majority in the House when Wahab and the winner of Georgia’s special election are sworn in.

While the 23rd District has been held by Republicans for over 10 years, Democrats have been winning special elections all over the nation in recent months, even in districts where the GOP has dominated.

Similarly, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, never set a special election to replace Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat who also resigned in April. That district leans heavily towards Democrats.

While Congress gives states control over setting special elections for vacancies, there is no set timetable for when that has to happen.

While the 260-day vacancy to replace Gonzales is long compared to most vacancies, it’s still well short of the 334 days that Abbott left Houston’s 18th Congressional District vacant after U.S. Rep. Sylvester Turner died in March 2025. Over the last four years, vacancies have been filled in less than 180 days on average.

U.S. Rep. Christian Menefee, D-Houston, who won that seat in a special election earlier this year, has been pushing legislation to force governors to move faster to fill vacant seats in Congress.

“When a member passes away or resigns, their communities should have their voice restored as soon as possible,” Menefee said when he filed his bill in April.

While voters in the 23rd Congressional District have no vote in Congress, the House Clerk’s office has kept staffers in place to help with constituent services, like tracking down Social Security checks or assisting with veterans benefits.

In November, Republican Brandon Herrera is facing off against Democrat Katy Padilla Stout to see who will represent the district beginning in January.