Houston City Council Member Abbie Kamin, who has represented District C – including the Greater Heights, Lazybrook/Timbergrove, Greater Inwood, and Washington Avenue Coalition/Memorial Park – since 2019, filed to run for Harris County Attorney on Dec. 5, seeking to succeed Christian Menefee.

Menefee resigned from the position earlier this year after announcing his campaign for the vacant seat in Texas’ 18th Congressional District, though he continues to serve in an acting capacity, according to Houston Public Media. Harris County commissioners have yet to appoint an interim replacement, with discussions taking place only during closed executive sessions.

In response to questions from The Leader, Kamin said federal and state political battles motivated her decision to seek the county post.

“Going through the constant attacks from Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton – coming after our families, our neighbors, our local government – I honestly just couldn’t take it anymore,” Kamin said. “When the County Attorney’s position came open I started considering whether I could dive into the fight in a bigger way.”

In her official announcement on social media, Kamin framed the race in stark terms: “Together, we can build a county that is strong enough to stop Trump, Democratic enough to restore our faith in local government, safe enough to live in without fear, and affordable enough to live comfortably and build a bright future for the next generation.”

Kamin’s entry into the race triggers Texas’ resign-to-run law, requiring her to vacate her city council seat. She will continue serving in an acting capacity until a special election determines her successor, which could be scheduled as early as 30 days after the March primaries, according to the Houston Chronicle.

City Council tenure

During her six years representing District C, Kamin pointed to a range of initiatives she authored or championed, including creation of the Houston Women’s Commission, paid parental leave and prenatal wellness leave for city employees, the nation’s first firearm injury dashboard, and the creation of the Office of Policing Reform and Accountability.

She also highlighted her work adding a domestic violence charge to the Mayor’s Office on Human Trafficking, securing millions of dollars in infrastructure and flood-mitigation investments, and working with the community to save the River Oaks Theater.

Kamin said her staff of four handled over 2,400 calls and 58,000 emails in the first six months of last year alone, along with more than 1,200 constituent cases. She noted that District C “has one of the most engaged populations anywhere in the city” and said she hopes her successor can maintain the tradition of constituent services established by predecessors Ellen Cohen and Anne Clutterbuck.

“I love District C and it has been an honor to represent these amazing Houstonians on City Council,” Kamin told The Leader.

Policy priorities

As County Attorney, Kamin stated her focus would include child protective services cases, environmental enforcement, nuisance issues, and housing conditions.

The County Attorney represents the state in all Department of Family and Protective Services matters, including Child Protective Services and Adult Protective Services cases. Kamin called it “one of the larger divisions within the office” that “does not get much attention.”

“There are many egregious issues that must be addressed within the state system,” she said. “We can do something meaningful about this, working closely with judges, attorneys, and case workers to keep children safe, ensure parents are given a fair chance, and call out Abbott and Paxton for their utter failure to do so.”

Kamin also pointed to her District C work taking on “bad-actor bars that create a public safety risk for residents and surrounding neighborhoods.” She said the County Attorney “should rightly be concerned about nuisance issues and bad-actor businesses that cause problems for county residents.”

She wants to continue her District C work on environmental issues, which included opposing a concrete batch plant near a daycare facility and being the first City Council office to install publicly accessible air quality monitors. 

On housing, Kamin pointed to a recent apartment fire in District C at a complex with a history of problems, including unsafe living conditions. The County Attorney’s office handles nuisance litigation, consumer protection, and regulatory enforcement that touch on housing conditions. “My commitment is to continue and improve upon that work,” she said.

The field of candidates

The filing deadline for the March primaries was December 8, setting the field of candidates.

Kamin will face Judge Audrie Lawton-Evans in the March Democratic primary. Lawton-Evans presides over Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 1 and filed for the position on November 17, the Houston Chronicle reported. According to her campaign website, she is a native Houstonian who attended Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law and has 19 years of experience as a civil litigation attorney, including serving as an Assistant Attorney General in the Civil Litigation Division and as an Assistant Disciplinary Counsel with the State Bar of Texas. 

The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Jacqueline Lucci Smith in the November general election. Lucci Smith is a 30-year attorney who served as judge of Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 2 from 2007 to 2012. Before taking the bench, she worked as an operational director for Paul Bettencourt at the Harris County Tax Office and as his legal counsel at the Harris County Attorney’s Office.

Lucci Smith came close to unseating Menefee in 2024, losing by just 1.2 percentage points, according to the Houston Chronicle – a margin Governor Greg Abbott’s efforts to turn Harris County ‘dark red’ aim to erase.

All three candidates are women, meaning Harris County will elect its first female County Attorney regardless of the outcome.