Green Bowing Out of CD 9 as Mealer
and Mattress Mac Make Fun of Cain
Capitol Inside
August 26, 2025
Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Green of Houston revealed on Tuesday that he has no plans to run for re-election in 2026 in a congressional district that GOP lawmakers in Austin redesigned to favor the Republicans in the Houston area where he's weighing the possibility of a bid for a separate seat.
Green's decision to effectively concede Congressional District 9 to the GOP comes as the competition among Republicans for the seat has intensified since State Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park broke from the starting gates late last week on the day before the Texas Senate approved changes to the U.S. House map here.
Green declined to rule out an eventual campaign for Congressional District 18 in 2026. But the 20-year U.S. House veteran said he won't be on the ballot for a special election in CD 18 in November even if pursues the seat at the polls next year. Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee could be a tentative frontrunner in the special contest for CD 18 in a field that includes former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards and State Rep. Jolanda Jones.
Cain hoped to get a jump on the competition in attempt to head it off in CD 9 when he hit the ground running before the new boundaries had been ratified in both chambers in Austin. Cain could be an early favorite for the GOP nomination in the new version that Governor Greg Abbott could sign into law in House Bill 4 as soon as Wednesday.
But Cain has no guarantee of keeping the inside lane with Alexandra del Moral Mealer as the first official primary rival who came out swinging on Monday with an endorsement from Mattress Mack McIngvale as the springboard into the CD 9 fight. Cain could also find former GOP congressional member Steve Stockman as an obstacle in the March primary amid revelations that he's considering a run for the CD 9 seat himself.
Mealer, the GOP nominee for Harris County judge last year, and McIngvale appeared to be making fun of Cain on Monday with posts on social media that didn't actually mention his name. “President Trump is draining the swamp and saving America, but there are still too many swamp rats left — he needs political outsiders, the kind of leaders you want by your side in a knife fight,” Mealer said on X.
"As my good friend @MattressMack says, "President Trump needs a real America First Leader, not a swamp rat, to fight for YOU. Bomb techs lead when others run away, I am the leader who will FIGHT for @realDonaldTrump's AMERICA FIRST agenda and for TEXANS in TX-09," Mealer added.
Mealer's reference to knife fighting appeared to be a jab at Cain's interest in fights to the death in the 1800s in a tiny town called Helena where opponents would have one hand tied behind their back while they slashed away at each with three-inch blades until one was declared the winner after the foe bled to death.
“I know career politicians are bad, and that's the reason I chose Alex. President Trump needs a workhorse, not a show pony,” McIngvale said. “Alex led the fight to save Harris County. It was Alex and I that fought to secure our elections in Harris County, not the politicians.”
Stockman served four years in the U.S. House including one term as the representative in CD 9 in the late 1990s before a stint in Congressional District 36 where he was elected in 2012. Stockman gave up the House seat in 2014 when he sought a promotion and finished second to U.S. Senator John Cornyn in a Republican primary field with eight candidates in the race at the top of the Texas ticket that year.
But Stockman's life took a turn for the worse in 2017 when he was arrested on charges of conspiring to convert hundreds of thousands of dollars that he raised under the auspices of a charitable nonprofit for personal use. The target of an FBI investigation, Stockman also was accused of money laundering with the falsification of contribution reports. Stockman was indicted by a federal grand jury and convicted in 2018 of money laundering and wire fraud. He landed a 10-year prison sentence with an order to pay restitution of more than $1 million.
But President Donald Trump commuted Stockman's sentence before leaving the White House in 2020 after the former congressman had served just two years. A felony conviction would not prevent him from running for Congress in a third attempted comeback in 2026 if he throws his hat in the CD 9 ring.
Democrat Kamala Harris won more than 71 percent of the CD 9 vote in 2024. Trump received 59 percent of the vote, however, in the version of the district on the map in House Bill 4. A Democratic nominee would be a long shot in a general election in CD 9 barring a blue wave at the national level next year.
CD 9 was one of five Texas districts that were reconfigured for the GOP on the map that was signed on Tuesday in the state House and Senate.
more to come ...
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