HOUSTON — As early voting begins in Texas, one of the hottest races to watch is for Harris County judge where Democratic incumbent Lina Hidalgo is facing Republican challenger Alexandra Mealer.
According to a new University of Houston poll, Mealer holds a slight lead with Election Day just two weeks away and early voting already underway.
“Right now the county judge race is in a statistical dead heat with Alexandra del moral Mealer with a 2 percent advantage over Lina Hidalgo with 8 percent undecided, so right now this is an effective tie,” Mark Jones, senior research associate at the UH Hobby school and political science fellow at Rice University, said.
The most critical issue, according to the online survey of 625 likely voters, is crime, along with abortion and voting rights.
“If there’s one issue that’s pushing Alex Mealer up and pulling Lina Hidalgo down, it is the issue of crime and public safety, which is a real vulnerable issue for Harris County Democrats and County Judge Lina Hidalgo in particular," Jones said.
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However, Democrats say they are confident in their ability to address crime.
“Right now in county commissioner’s court we have two Republicans who refused to show up to do their job," Harris County Democratic Party Chairman Odus Evbagharu said. "Well, if you want public safety to be at the forefront of people’s minds, show a full work so that we can increase funding for law enforcement, we can increase funding for mental health spending."
Mealer released the following statement Monday.
“As early voting gets underway, the new University of Houston - Hobby School of Public Affairs poll is solid confirmation that residents want new leadership in Harris County. It's unprecedented that after starting as an unknown, in just seven months of general election campaigning, Lina and I are in a dead heat. And the two reasons I chose to enter this race, crime and government corruption, are the top two issues for the vast majority of voters in our county. To those who are skeptical about my ability to execute my campaign promises, I would just say that if you think I am moving fast on the campaign trail, imagine how fast I can run once in office with a full team behind me."
Hidalgo’s campaign also released a statement.
"Judge Hidalgo successfully led Harris County through natural disasters and a global pandemic – all while making record-breaking investments in public safety and overhauling systems that did a disservice to our county. We anticipated our race would be close, especially given the millions of dollars poured into our far-right opponent’s campaign from known extremists, election deniers, anti-voting rights leaders, and developers eager to roll back regulations that help stop flooding to make a profit at our expense. We are confident voters agree with Judge Hidalgo's vision for Harris County, and they will re-elect her as county judge."
In the UH poll, Beto O’Rourke holds an 8-point lead ahead of Greg Abbott in Harris County.
“This is going to be an election that probably is determined by turnout more than anything else,” Jones said.