Crime and public safety have often dominated political campaigns in Houston and Harris County, but perhaps never more than in this year’s county judge race, where polls show it is voters’ number one issue.
That’s despite the fact that incumbent Democrat Lina Hidalgo has presided over record levels of law enforcement funding and pushed to hire more sheriff’s deputies, in a job that otherwise has little control over the major law enforcement policy issues under debate. She did have a hand in new bail bond rules for nonviolent defendants—but despite claims from Republicans, those new rules have little to do with crime rates in Houston.
Hidalgo is facing retired Army captain and former investment banker Alexandra del Moral Mealer, who’s outspending her in a race that looks like a “statistical dead heat” according to the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston. Along with two other commissioner seats that are up for grabs, the county judge race could determine whether Democrats maintain their 3-2 control or flip to Republicans. This high-stakes election will shape the political future of the largest county in Texas.
