Lucio Vasquez / Houston Public Media
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo speaks during a news conference in July 2021.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s admonishment of a top candidate vying for her seat could reflect a contentious shift in the county’s Democratic Party.
Her comments opposing former Houston Mayor Annise Parker’s bid for county judge come on the heels of top Texas Republicans vowing to turn the state’s largest county red, and after Hidalgo said in a series of press conferences she would refrain from endorsing a candidate for her job. Hidalgo, a Democrat, announced in September that she wouldn’t seek reelection next year, and her two-term stint as the county’s top elected official will end in December 2026.
Parker, who was favored in a recent survey for the position in next year’s Democratic primary election, was the subject of a social media post by Hidalgo on Tuesday in which she was referred to as “Kim Ogg 2.0.” Kim Ogg previously served as the district attorney and has openly called for more GOP leadership in Harris County.
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Hidalgo overall received the lowest net-approval rating based on job performance of any elected Harris County official included in the survey — including all county commissioners, District Attorney Sean Teare, and acting County Attorney Christian Menefee.
In an interview with Hello Houston on Wednesday, Hidalgo elevated her condemnation of Parker by suggesting her political beliefs fail to align with the Democratic Party. She said Parker supported the state takeover of the Houston Independent School District and endorsed Ogg. Ogg pushed back in a statement of her own, calling Hidalgo’s remarks reflective of her tumultuous tenure as county judge.
“If you’re going to run as a Democrat in a Democratic primary, you need to be a Democrat,” Hidalgo said Wednesday. “My perspective is, the reason so many people don’t vote, the reason so many people are apathetic when it comes to politics, is because they vote for something and they get something else.”
In a statement responding to Hidalgo’s claims, Parker said her record of public service speaks for itself.
“These questions have all been asked and answered,” Parker said. “I’m running to fight Donald Trump and Greg Abbott, not to engage in Democratic infighting.”
Houston City Council Member Letitia Plummer — who is also running for county judge — is trailing behind Parker, according to the recent survey. Hidalgo, who previously pledged to stay out of the county judge’s race, said on Wednesday she is planning to meet with Plummer before deciding whether to endorse her for the position.
On Wednesday, Plummer told Houston Public Media that Hidalgo raised critical concerns that Harris County Democratic primary voters must hear, and that Parker represents a “bygone era of dealmaking and power consolidation that has failed our families.”
“While she plays political chess with her insider network, our neighborhoods struggle with crime, our infrastructure crumbles, and working families fall further behind,” Plummer said. “This election is about the next decade, not the last one.”
While three Democrats have entered the county judge’s race, six Republicans — including Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association President Marty Lancton and former Harris County treasurer Orlando Sanchez — are also vying for the position. The seat was held by a Republican until Hidalgo upset Ed Emmett in 2018.
Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, said the political infighting represents an identity crisis in Harris County’s Democratic Party. The conflict also came a few days after Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s political party of more than five decades admonished him by barring the lifelong Democrat from receiving its endorsement in the future. The resolution received last-minute support from Hidalgo
The region’s top Democrats have repeatedly clashed, and on Wednesday, Hidalgo suggested that Parker and Whitmire share a “consistent pettiness.”
“The Democratic Party is going through a generational change right now, and that is mapped along ideological lines in a way that does present these kinds of complications when it comes to elections,” Rottinghaus said. “The Democratic Party is in a bit of an internal conflict with itself. It has to think about where it wants to be and what the best way ideologically forward is in order to make these kinds of elections winnable.”
In an October campaign event north of Houston — which was advertised online as an event supporting conservative Cy-Fair ISD candidates — Abbott promised to devote a significant chunk of his war chest to turning Harris County red.
That means it’s all hands on deck for the Democratic Party, Rottinghaus said.
“It’s a full-scale conflict that the Democrats have to win if they’re going to hold Harris County blue,” he said. “There’s a wing of the party that wants to really push the progressive agenda and have candidates lock into that, but there’s also a wing of the party that wants to present as moderate. The party has got to figure out what its strategy is going to be.”