A resolution calling for Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s resignation was tabled Thursday at Commissioners Court after no commissioner seconded a motion to temporarily suspend a February rule change that would have allowed it to be read during the regular session.
Republican Commissioner Tom Ramsey brought the resolution, which would have both recognized the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s accomplishments and condemned Hidalgo over an incident last week in which she was removed from a concert at NRG Stadium after attempting to access a premium seating section without the required credentials. Because a February rule change moved resolutions from regular bi-weekly meetings to business court meetings, Ramsey needed a motion to temporarily suspend that rule. No one seconded it. The resolution will move to the next Commissioners Court meeting, scheduled for March 31.
Commissioner Rodney Ellis, who presided over the meeting in Hidalgo’s absence, suggested waiting until the judge returns from a trade mission to Europe before taking up the matter. Hidalgo has missed more votes than any other member of Commissioners Court since January 2025, according to public agenda documents.
“Just from the timing of it all, I think reading it here, and we can certainly talk about it again when she returns, her having missed the last three meetings, I’m not sure when she’s coming,” Ramsey said.
A copy of the resolution obtained by Houston Public Media read, in part, that Hidalgo’s “entitled behavior and misuse of her official position have embarrassed this Commissioners Court and the people of Harris County time and time again.” Ramsey has called for Hidalgo’s resignation in a series of social media posts and television interviews. State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) also called for her resignation in a statement issued March 13, calling the rodeo confrontation the latest example of what he described as escalating and “increasingly bizarre” behavior.
The original incident occurred the night of March 10 during a sold-out Megan Moroney concert. As previously reported by Texas Scorecard, Hidalgo and several guests attempted to enter the chute area (a premium floor section requiring a $425 ticket) without proper credentials. Rodeo officials asked her multiple times to return to the county suite before escorting her out of the stadium entirely. A RodeoHouston source said that Hidalgo is the only elected official to have requested chute tickets during the entire 2026 rodeo season and had already received 21 of them at no charge, a combined value of nearly $9,000, over at least three prior visits. Hidalgo claimed she was physically shoved and threatened with arrest and attributed the incident to sexism and possible racial bias. HLSR Board Chair Pat Mann Phillips rejected those characterizations outright.
Following the incident, the HLSR board voted to strip Hidalgo of her ex-officio director position, a role she had cited as justification for accessing areas beyond her ticketed section.
Bettencourt raised a concern that extends beyond the rodeo itself. Under Texas law, the county judge serves as the top emergency management official for the county, responsible for evacuation decisions during a major hurricane. “She’s the one that’s going to be making evacuation decisions on whether millions of people stay or go if we have a major hurricane,” Bettencourt said. “I don’t believe she has the capability of making those decisions.” He was quick to add that his concern is not partisan. “I don’t care whether it’s a Democrat or Republican running emergency management. I just want somebody that can make rational decisions.”
Ramsey was also direct about his intentions regardless of what Hidalgo does. “If she had any ounce of integrity, she would resign on Thursday,” he said earlier this week. “There’ll be that conversation. And frankly, if she doesn’t, I’m going to be looking at ways where we’ll just ignore anything she does in the court.”
None of the three Democratic commissioners responded to questions about their confidence in the county judge’s leadership. A University of Houston political science lecturer told the Chronicle it was unlikely any of them would formally call for her resignation, with fewer than nine months remaining in her term. Hidalgo announced last year she would not seek reelection in 2026.
This is not the first time Hidalgo’s conduct has drawn a formal rebuke from her own colleagues. In August 2024, commissioners voted to censure her after she brought dozens of children to a Commissioners Court meeting as part of a push for early childhood education funding, a move even fellow Democrats Lesley Briones and Adrian Garcia joined Ramsey in opposing.
Hidalgo is currently abroad as part of a 25-person delegation visiting the Netherlands, Germany, and Portugal, countries with soccer teams scheduled to play in Houston during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. It is her third trade mission, and like the previous two, is being funded with political contributions after commissioners declined to fund the Paris trip with county dollars. The Europe trip runs through March 20.
Commissioners Court also took up several other items Thursday, including a new employee consultation policy for county workers, a $38 million contract extension to house inmates in Louisiana, and a petition challenging a recent federal EPA rollback.
