Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is no stranger to crises or controversy. Through it all, Hidalgo says her guiding light has been simple: follow the data, speak the truth, and center the people’s needs.
Since taking office in 2019 as the first woman and Latina to lead Texas’ largest county, she has overseen disasters ranging from Hurricane Harvey recovery and the COVID-19 pandemic to the 2021 winter freeze and, most recently, a derecho that battered Southeast Texas.
Hidalgo opened up about her immigrant upbringing, the lessons she has learned managing emergencies, and her most ambitious push yet: putting early childhood care on the ballot for Harris County voters this November.
Born in Colombia during the height of the drug war, Hidalgo vividly recalls her parents’ decision to flee their homeland after a car bomb shattered the windows of a senior home while she was inside.
“I know what it’s like to be safe and what it’s like to not be safe,” she told the Dendender. “We ended up in Peru and Mexico and I saw the government not work in those places. I always thought the U.S. was really the model.”
Those formative experiences, she says, gave her a deep respect for American democracy.
“We all see a lot of issues with our government and limitations, but even with all of that, to me it is the shining city on the hill,” Hidalgo added. “It is a land of opportunity.”
Emergency management
As Harris County’s emergency manager, Hidalgo has had to navigate the dual pressures of uncertainty and political blowback. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, she made the call to restrict in-person learning, a move she now concedes may have overlooked students with learning disabilities.
“It could have been done differently, less limited and certainly with a focus on those kids,” she said. “But we didn’t know better and that was the data we were getting from the researchers at Rice who were looking all around the world to try to figure out what the best answer was.”
She has also faced criticism for her bold public warnings during events like the 2021 freeze, which she famously compared to a Category 5 hurricane. Some accused her of fear-mongering.
“I don’t want to cry wolf, but at the same time, I don’t want to be scared to tell the community of a risk just because I don’t want to be seen as crying wolf,” Hidalgo explained. “If the reason I don’t get reelected is because I told people that there was going to be a hurricane that turned out to be a last-minute one, I’d rather that be the reason than find myself in a situation where I was scared to bring it up and then there was a loss of life or property.”
Early childhood investment
Hidalgo has been pushing for a property tax increase to fund early childhood services, the Early REACH program, which provides child care support for working families. She wanted to give voters the choice to approve or reject the proposal on the November ballot, even amid the county’s budget deficit. Other members of the court said they were blindsided by her initiative, which would cost $60 million and charge homeowners $10 more per year for every $100,000 of home evaluation. After a chaotic Commissioners Court meeting on August 7, the proposal did not pass and will not appear on the ballot after missing a key deadline.
“Incredibly sad and disappointed. Early childhood education is something that we’ve been running successfully for four years,” Hidalgo said. “It’s simply a request to let the voters decide. It’s very disappointing that my colleagues not only don’t believe kids are worth a penny, they don’t believe in asking voters whether they think kids are worth a penny. I’ve been fighting for this since I took Office in 2019, and I’ll continue fighting for these kids and families who are about to lose their early childhood education. I’m not done.”
Major initiatives
Hidalgo launched a first-of-its-kind open transition process in early 2019, including a countywide survey (with over 11,000 responses) and public workshops, to identify residents’ most urgent concerns and shape early priorities. She also launched a $84 million Brighter Futures for Harris County Kids Initiative, the largest county investment in early childhood programs supporting maternal health, childcare and early learning and created the $26 million Early REACH Program to provide 1,000 new high-quality childcare slots in underserved areas of Harris County.
She also created initiatives, expanding the Public Defender’s Office and increasing funding by 91%. She also adopted a managed assigned counsel program to improve the quality and accountability of indigent defense (for individuals who cannot afford their own attorney in criminal or civil court cases). Per Hidalgo’s office, she oversaw the construction of new juvenile detention facilities.
The County also invested over $11 million to build an air monitoring network, increased the size of the pollution control department by over 50% and added resources for HazMat First Responders.
Navigating political tensions
Throughout her tenure, Hidalgo has butted heads with fellow commissioners and, more recently, with Houston Mayor John Whitmire over coordination during disasters. While she describes a “strained relationship” with the city, she says progress has been made.
“We [Whitmire and Hidalgo] still haven’t had a meeting, but we have gotten to the point where he will participate and take my calls and our staff will work together during emergencies,” she said. “The city and the county have historically had a strained relationship and I’ve never wanted that. Certainly not the relationship that I had with Mayor Turner. I’m always more than happy to build a stronger relationship with the current mayor.”
She also defended her sometimes combative style on the Commissioners Court, saying she’s not guided by politics but by principle.
“I’m not prioritizing possible political outcomes. That’s where we clash sometimes,” Hidalgo added.
A decision on reelection
With political opponents already declaring campaigns for the 2026 election, Hidalgo is under growing pressure to announce whether she will seek a third term.
She told the Defender she’ll decide “soon,” citing a ballooning budget shortfall and looming federal cuts to Harris Health as factors prompting her to reassess.
“We’re still early,” Hidalgo said. “Some of the candidates are very, very, very, very early in announcing…I had 15 opponents in 2022. I don’t know if it would be possible or likely to break that record, but I know I can handle at least 15.”
Regardless of whether she runs, Hidalgo says she has unfinished business: expanding early childhood programs, investing in mental health and flood infrastructure and continuing her work on homelessness and public safety.
“I never signed up to be a wartime county judge, but we’ve done all of this in addition to managing pretty much any kind of disaster you can think of,” she said. “It’s been great and I still have a year and a half left, so I think, irrespective of whether I’m able to win reelection, I want to focus on the mental health part of things and then take a look at obviously always flight control investments.”
