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Who is Lina Hidalgo? Newcomer defeats Emmett in Harris County Judge race

The incumbent said a lot people didn't even know he was running for re-election against an opponent.

HOUSTON – Harris County has a new judge Wednesday morning.

Democrat and newcomer Lina Hidalgo defeated incumbent Ed Emmett, who is blaming his loss on straight party ticket voting and being so far down on the ballot.

The incumbent said a lot people didn’t even know he was running for re-election against an opponent. He added even Democrats who were in favor of him likely failed to go far down enough in the ballot to vote for him, giving his 27-year-old Democratic opponent the upper-hand.

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“There weren’t any debates, and this is nothing negative about Ms. Hidalgo, but most people didn’t know I had an opponent,” Emmett said Tuesday night.

This was Hidalgo's first time running for public office. The Columbian immigrant and Stanford graduate will become the first Latina county judge.

According to the her bio, Hidalgo immigrated to the U.S. in 2005 along with her family. She is a product of Texas public school and was the first in her family to attend college.

Hidalgo graduated Stanford University with a degree in political science the same year she became a U.S. citizen. After arriving in Texas, she serve as a Spanish-English medical interpreter for the Texas Civil Rights Project at the Texas Medical Center.

Hidalgo spent the past few years conducting research on criminal justice policies and coordinated with advocacy groups and governments to push for criminal justice reform. She did this while she was pursuing a joint degree in law and public policy at NYU and Harvard

Emmett did not give a complete concession Tuesday, but he knows the numbers are against him.

“It is a bitter pill to swallow but Harris County will move on,” Emmett said Tuesday night.

The straight party ballot issue also lead to a sweep for Democratic judges, and long-term Republicans in Fort Bend County were also upended.

Of course, it was the final year for straight party ballots in Texas.

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