County judge victor: ‘It was no accident’
Democratic newcomer prepares to lead after upsetting Emmett
Lina Hidalgo long had insisted she was the frontrunner in the Harris County judge’s race.
She said she was on track to win even though her opponent, Ed Emmett, widely was considered the most popular local elected official. She repeated her prediction at public forums, even when it drew chuckles from some in the audience. Her campaign included the claim in emails, even as Emmett drubbed her in fundraising.
Then, on Tuesday night, the 27-year-old rode the Democratic wave that swamped most of the county’s elected Republicans to defeat Emmett in the most unlikely upset of the evening.
Hidalgo’s victory was the product of a superb get-out-the-vote effort by Democrats, a massive burst of straight-ticket voting and smoldering anger by some at the Republican Party and President Donald Trump. In addition to Emmett, Democrats ousted incumbent Republicans for county clerk, district clerk, treasurer and Precinct 2 commissioner. Democrats now control every countywide post and swept all of the county’s 59 judicial races.
Even statewide Republican leaders, who continued their two-plus-decade dominance at the ballot box, came up short in Harris County. Among them, Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, all of whom at one time called Houston home.
“It was not an accident,” Hidalgo said of her victory Wednesday following a whirlwind day of
with television reporters who now wanted to know more about her. “We saw it coming, and it took a lot of hard work.”
Hidalgo, a graduate student and community advocate who returned to Houston this past summer determined to find a position to campaign for, has less than two months to prepare to lead the third-most-populous county in the United States.
She has yet to attend a meeting of Commissioners Court or meet with the two Republican commissioners with whom she will work. Hidalgo also lacks the elected experience of her predecessors, Emmett and Robert Eckels, both of whom were state legislators before becoming county judge.
“People don’t think the experience we’ve had has been working,” Hidalgo said. “They’re ready … to get something else.”
Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, the lone Democrat currently on the court, said Hidalgo is a quick study who will settle into the role quickly.
“She’s smart and was very bold to make the decision to run, and to make a commitment to public service,” Ellis said.
Hidalgo said her immediate focus is recruiting a top-flight staff and pledged to announce a transition plan in coming weeks. Depending on how many Emmett holdovers Hidalgo retains, she could have as many as 30 positions to fill.
Eckels, who served as county judge from 1995 to 2007, urged Hidalgo to focus on building relationships with the four county commissioners. Unlike the mayor of Houston, who has significantly more power — and far more leverage — over city council, the county judge can accomplish little without the support of commissioners.
“The county judge position is by nature a weak position,” Eckels said. “One vote is one vote. Three votes can change the world.”
Eckels said the mild-mannered Emmett was successful because he was able to manage the sometimes outsized personalities of commissioners.
Hidalgo said she would welcome Emmett’s advice during the transition. She said a top priority is to make county government more transparent, and suggested holding regular town halls. She also is eager to settle the federal lawsuit brought by poor criminal defendants brought two years ago, in which they argue Harris County’s cash bail system is unconstitutional.
She emphasized the importance of flood control, and said she has yet to determine whether to make changes to the projects list for the $2.5 billion flood protection bond voters approved in August.
Unlike Emmett, Hidalgo views the county judge’s position as a platform to speak up on behalf of Harris County residents, even on issues that are outside of the court’s purview. During the campaign, she said Emmett insufficiently had stood up to Gov. Greg Abbott on issues such as immigration.
Hidalgo was born in Colombia in 1991 and immigrated with her parents and brother to Houston in 2005. She earned a degree in political science from Stanford University in 2013, and later enrolled in a joint master’s program at Harvard University and law program at New York University, which she said she will now put on hold or cut short.
Her work experience includes internships with the New Orleans public defender’s office and an inmate mental health project in New York. In Houston, she spent two summers at Ben Taub Hospital translating for Spanish-speaking patients.
Though she planned a career improving government from the outside, the election of Donald Trump as president in 2016 inspired her to seek office herself. She returned from Massachusetts to Texas this past summer, on the hunt for a position to seek. She settled on county judge because of the county’s role in flood protection, which she said has been inadequate.
She also benefited from the fact that many more experienced Democrats sat out the race, believing Emmett could not be beaten.
With the election of Adrian Garcia in the Precinct 2 commissioner’s race, Democrats will have a 3-2 majority on Commissioners Court, starting in January.
The Republican commissioners, Steve Radack and Jack Cagle, said they looked forward to working with Hidalgo. Radack, who has served under three county excans ecutives since he first was elected in 1988, said he expects court members to continue to work well together with Democrats in charge.
Cagle said he would not be bothered if Hidalgo used her new pulpit to speak out on statewide and national issues like immigration and criminal justice, so long as the county continues to serve its largely nonpartisan functions, like maintaining infrastructure and providing health services.
“When you fix a pothole, there’s no R or D that goes on it,” Cagle said.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said Wednesday morning that he was surprised Hidalgo won. He praised Emmett, with whom he worked closely during storm events including Hurricane Harvey and the Tax Day Flood, as a treasured partner.
“The reality is that for all of us, we’re not indispensable,” Turner said. “I can be here, tomorrow I can be someplace else and the city will go forward, the city will go on.”
Judges, who are far down the ballot and little known among voters, are particularly susceptible in wave elections. Republi interviews had controlled most of the county’s 23 seats on the district judge bench, 13 on the family court, four on the county civil court, four for probate court and 15 on the county misdemeanor bench. Now they control none.
Voters made no distinction between jurists who drew criticism, such as a pair of judges who were found to disproportionately send children of color to juvenile detention, and those who are held in high regard by prosecutors and defense lawyers.
Scott Murphy, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, expressed worry that the judicial sweep could create significant short-term uncertainty regarding criminal justice reforms.
“It will take some time for the new judges to get a handle on how they want to run their courts. We just lost a lot of continuity,” Murphy said. “There are also a lot of people within the Harris County administration that may change as a result of (the election).”