Runoff election for Houston’s 18th Congressional District on track for late January

Andrew Schneider/Houston Public Media

It's been nearly a week since Houston voters chose the top two candidates in the special election to fill out the term of the late Congressman Sylvester Turner , and Gov. Greg Abbott has yet to schedule the runoff for Texas' 18 th Congressional District .

On Monday, a spokesman for Abbott told Houston Public Media , “An announcement on that will be made at a later date.”

Abbott is constrained as to when he can call the runoff by both federal and state election laws, according to University of Houston Law Center assistant professor David Froomkin.

"The state election code requires that the runoff be held between 70 and 77 days, or in other words, between 10 and 11 weeks after the final canvass of the election," Froomkin said.

That 10-11 wee