Republican candidate for Harris County judge Alexandra del Moral Mealer has conceded to Democratic incumbent Lina Hidalgo, with all 782 Election Day voting centers reporting results.
In a statement, del Moral Mealer said she was hopeful to have played a role in encouraging good government.
"While we did not accomplish our goal of changing leadership in Harris County, we were successful in elevating the profile of critical issues like the need to appropriately resource our law enforcement and criminal justice system, as well as the desire to eliminate corruption and increase transparency in local government," del Moral Mealer said.
The report released at 9:17 a.m. by the Harris County Office of the Elections Administrator showed Hidalgo with 50.74% of the vote to del Moral Mealer's 49.25%. From the unofficial results, Hidalgo won both the early vote and the Election Day vote, edging out del Moral Mealer by around 10,000 votes in the former and around 3,000 in the latter.
Despite vastly outraising and outspending Hidalgo in the run-up to Election Day, del Moral Mealer did not see the same success at the polls.
Hidalgo had not publicly provided a statement at the time of publication, but in a Q&A with Community Impact, the Democratic incumbent said the role of county government has changed under her leadership, and that she was running for re-election to keep the county moving forward.
“Before I was elected, county government flew under the radar, dodged tough decisions and operated reactively, not proactively,” Hidalgo said in a statement. “I’ve steered Harris County through a winter storm, chemical fires, floods, hurricanes and COVID[-19]. I did it while making bold changes to how our government operates—from record law enforcement funding, to early childhood education, smarter flood control and everything in between.”
With the concession by del Moral Mealer and the likely wins by Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia and Democratic candidate for Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones, the Democrats are posed to expand their current 3-2 majority to 4-1 on Commissioners Court, with Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey left as the sole Republican.
Updated 8:00 a.m. Nov. 9
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo appears to have held off the Republican candidate Alexandra del Moral Mealer, leading by 15,311 votes with 774 out of 782 Election Day voting centers counted as of the most recent 5 a.m. elections office report.
Hidalgo has received 50.71% of the vote to del Moral Mealer's 49.28% and is likely to win, although it is uncertain if provisional ballots cast between 7-8 p.m. on election night will factor into the count.
Updated 11:45 p.m. Nov. 8
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo's slight lead remains over challenger Alexandra del Moral Mealer, with 103 out of 782 Election Day voting centers counted on election night. Hidalgo has received 50.87% of the votes counted thus far to del Moral Mealer's 49.11%. Write-in candidate Naoufal Houjami received 0.01% of the votes.
Posted 8:25 p.m. Nov. 8
Incumbent Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo has a 10,068-vote advantage over Republican candidate Alexandra del Moral Mealer, according to unofficial early voting results released just before 8 p.m. by the Harris County Office of the Elections Administrator.
Hidalgo won 342,420 early votes and 23,832 mail-in ballot votes for 50.7% of the total early vote, while del Moral Mealer had 40.3% of the vote. The 722,436 votes cast accounts for 28% of registered voters based on the 2,575,270 registered as of Oct. 27.
Hidalgo was elected in November 2018 for a four-year term, ousting Republican Ed Emmett, who served in the role for 12 years.
The county judge is elected at-large and serves as the head of the five-member Commissioners Court, which currently operates under a slim 3-2 Democratic majority. With three of the five positions up for grabs this midterm, including the Precinct 2 and Precinct 4 Commissioners, the outcome of the election could see the Republicans take back the majority if del Moral Mealer were to beat out Hidalgo, or if the Republican candidate for Precinct 2 commissioner Jack Morman were to re-take his former seat from incumbent Adrian Garcia.
But if Lesley Briones, the Democratic candidate for Precinct 4 Commissioner, wins out over incumbent Jack Cagle, and Garcia and Hidalgo are able to come out ahead in their races, the Democrats could have a 4-1 majority.
All election results are unofficial until canvassed. Visit communityimpact.com/voter-guide to see results from all local elections in your community.
