Update: 10:10 a.m. The Houston Chronicle has called the Precinct 2 race for Adrian Garcia
KHOU has called the Harris County Judge race for Lina Hidalgo and Alexandra del Moral Mealer tweeted out a concession twitter, thanking her supporters.
Hidalgo added her own tweet:
Original story
Early voting election results in Harris County did not begin trickling in until after 8 p.m., meaning the Harris County Judge race and that of the two commissioners up for re-election were too close to call before 10 p.m. Tuesday. That continued Wednesday morning where by 5 a.m. County Judge Lina Hidalgo maintained a slight lead over Republican challenger .Alexandra del Moral Mealer.
Tuesday’s delay was caused by a temporary restraining order issued by District Judge Dawn Rogers in response to a lawsuit filed citing late openings and technical malfunctions at several polling locations across the county. Rogers’ order called for all of the county’s 782 polling locations to remain open for an extra hour beyond the normal 7 p.m. polls closing time.
However, within a short amount of time, the Texas Supreme Court dissolved Rogers’ order, which in turn, angered people who showed up later on to vote as well as the Texas Civil Rights Project who filed for the TRO before Rogers and whose program director vowed to make sure the provisional votes counted.
Voters who showed up to polling sites after 7 p.m. were asked to cast their ballots on a provisional ballot. These provisional ballots were then set aside and separated from ballots that were collected during standard operating hours. Harris County Elections Administrator Cliff Tatum, who at first seemed to indicate that the provisional ballots would not be counted, later clarified his statements to say the provisional ballots would be saved and that he was waiting for further instruction as to what he should do with them.
Several polling locations also experienced supply shortages, running out of the paper used to print ballots in voting machines. Between 15-20 polling sites reported a shortage in their paper supply, despite the county giving election judges who presided over polling locations extra paper ahead of Election Day voting. Polling locations that requested reinforcements did receive extra paper and were able to operate efficiently following this assistance. This issue caused extra delays for voters, who were left waiting in lines outside of these polling locations for several hours.
In the Harris County Judge race, Mealer, who had been slightly favored to win, criticized Hidalgo for what the Republican said was a rise in crime under Hidalgo’s leadership and amassed a huge war chest – which Hidalgo tried to counter with two fund-raising events in the last days before election day, Mealer also played upon the questions raised by the Texas Secretary of State’s office about security during the 2020 election.
During her term, Hidalgo adopted a holistic approach, concentrating on childcare efforts, housing stability and reform-minded criminal justice. She stated that her team led successful gun buy-back and gun violence programs. When Hidalgo first assumed office, she was a part of a county-wide blue wave after most candidates that were elected created a democratic stronghold.
Recently, Hidalgo had been in a battle over her newly proposed county budget which increased the amount the county would spend. Republican Commissioners, Jack Cagle and Tom Ramsey, were opposed and boycotted several county Commissioner meetings. They also argued that the increased budget did not provide enough funding for law enforcement.
Mealer, has said she hopes to tackle law enforcement issues that she will add an additional 1,000 law enforcement officers to the county ranks. Her election returns the Commissioners Court to a Republican majority.
Throughout her campaigning efforts, Mealer received donations from county figures like Mattress Mack, and big-name developers like Richard Weekly. Hidalgo was quick to criticize Mealer over accepting funds from officials who are involved in business ventures in the county.
County Commissioners Precincts 2 and 4
Democratic incumbent Adrian Garcia was leading in the race for Precinct 2 County Commissioner against Republican challenger Jack Morman on Tuesday night.
Garcia, who defeated Morman in the last election in 2018, has maintained a moderate platform during his time on the board and often makes decisions that reflect his middle ground approach. The former Houston police officer, Houston City councilman and Harris County sheriff boosted law enforcement funding and narrowed the gap on tax rates as a county commissioner.
Morman’s campaign focused on two main issues: adding funds for law enforcement and increased transportation and flood control services. In his previous two terms as the Precinct 2 commissioner, he voted to increase the pay for law enforcement officers, work on the county’s $2.5 billion flood bond, and supported the SH 146 highway expansion project.
Morman promised to continue tackling the county’s infrastructure and allocate funds to go toward hiring more law enforcement officers to keep up with crime in the county. The Republican accused Garcia of defunding the police in the past during the county’s annual budget and tax-setting process.
In response, Garcia pointed out that he put forward a proposal that funded a cadet class, added 175 deputies for patrolling duties, 100 additional detention officers, and 35 investigators to the county. The proposal also included increased funding for the district attorney, constable officers, and a 2.5 percent pay increase for all law enforcement officers.
The race for Precinct 4’s Commissioners Court appeared to be the closest of all the Commissioners Court races. Democratic Lesley Briones was leading Republican Jack Cagle.
Cagle faced criticism throughout the latter half of the election from Briones, who attacked him for not attending recent County Commissioner Court meetings to discuss the county’s budget for the next year. Cagle and fellow Republican Tom Ramsey, boycotted the meetings, saying they did not support the added expense of Hidalgo’s proposed budget.
The state requires a super quorum of four members present to vote on any new budget or tax rate by October 28. This automatically allowed Cagle and Ramsey the ability to veto the proposal by their absence and under law, the county was forced to go with the previous year’s “no new revenue rate.”
Briones campaigned on the need for a concentration on increasing flood control efforts, supporting law enforcement and crime prevention. She also said she would work to improve infrastructure plans, expand voter education, and increase job opportunities for residents.
If these candidates are declared as the elected officials, Commissioners Court moves from the previous three Democrats and two Republicans to four Democrats and one Republican.
County Clerk
Also in early returns, returns for Harris County Clerk had Democrat incumbent Teneshia Hudspeth ahead in her re-election bid against Republican challenger Stan Stanart. Both Hudspeth and Stanart have held the county clerk’s position before – Stanart for eight years before Hudspeth bested him in the 2020 election.
Hudspeth, who was favored to win, had worked in the office for the last 15 years, before deciding to campaign for the role herself.
As county clerk, Hudspeth worked on launching online systems during COVID-19 to purchase essential certificates and digitize important records and improved the transparency and efficiency of office operations. She said she will continue these efforts, while also placing an emphasis on customer service operations in office and community outreach programs to educate the public about the role of county clerk.
During his time in office, Stanart worked on election security and processes. Since then, the responsibility election process management has been shifted to the newly created position of Harris County Elections Administrator.
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This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2022.
