Lina Hidalgo, Harris County chief executive, won’t seek reelection

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Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, a progressive Democrat whose surprise election gave her party control of county government for the first time in decades and established her as a rising star, said she will not seek reelection after an eight-year tenure as top executive of Texas’ largest county.

In a Monday night interview with Houston’s ABC 13, Hidalgo said she decided to keep her promise of only serving two terms, which she made when she first ran in 2018.

“The first time I was elected I said immediately, ‘I don’t want to do this for 30 years,’” Hidalgo said, adding that she intends to remain in public service and was not ruling out a run for public office in the future.

After unseating longtime incumbent and moderate Republican Ed Emmett, Hidalgo, then 27, emerged as a prodigy among Texas Democrats, many of whom saw her as a potential statewide contender down the road. Her election helped usher in a Democratic majority that allowed her to pursue issues traditionally outside the county’s purview, like childcare and poverty. Her vision for a more expansive government was met with praise from progressive policy advocates and fierce opposition from conservatives.

That criticism led to a well-funded challenge in 2022 from Republican Alex Mealer, whose pitch that Hidalgo had traded public safety for progressive ideals almost flipped control of the county judge seat. Hidalgo returned to her job presiding over commissioners court by less than 2 percentage points.

If Hidalgo had sought a third term, she would have again faced stiff competition — including from her own party. Former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, who made history as the first openly LGBTQ+ mayor of an American city, announced her bid for county judge in June.

In recent years, Hidalgo also received scrutiny from former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, a Democrat who frequently feuded with Hidalgo and the court’s other Democrats. Three of Hidalgo’s staffers were accused in an indictment of steering an $11 million contract for a vaccine outreach campaign to a political consulting firm headed by a Democratic strategist. Hidalgo defended the staffers and criticized the indictments as politically motivated.

Shortly before leaving office last year, Ogg handed the case over to Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose office subsequently dismissed two of the cases. The third was resolved in a pretrial intervention deal after the staffer agreed to perform community service.

More recently Hidalgo clashed with her peers on commissioners court, including the other Democrats. The court voted this summer to censure her over her behavior after a meeting erupted into chaos over a disagreement regarding a tax hike proposal to fund child care programs. It was the first time a Harris County judge had been formally admonished.

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