State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R-Houston) has accused Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo of violating the Texas Election Code with her official X account.
Bettencourt posted images from the @HarrisCoJudge account showing a video with Hidalgo promoting voter registration through IWILLVOTE.com, an overtly Democrat site, instead of Harris County’s voter registrar office.
“This is shameless electioneering,” Bettencourt told Texas Scorecard. “This is a county judge on an official account being videoed literally in the middle of the county office pushing a DNC paid-for IWILLVOTE.com website which has a 202[4] Democrat National Committee copyright on it.”
Although Hidalgo’s video on her official account did not explicitly tell people how to vote, it appeared to show her on county property. Likewise, its production likely required county equipment and staff.
The Election Code states, “An officer or employee of a political subdivision may not knowingly spend or authorize the spending of public funds for political advertising.”
Hidalgo had to pay a $500 fine earlier this year from the Texas Ethics Commission for violating the same Election Code section.
In a follow-up post, Bettencourt showed that Hidalgo deleted the post from her official account.
Hidalgo’s office did not reply to Texas Scorecard about why she deleted her post or referenced IWILLVOTE.com over other official options.
“The fact that it was pulled that fast says that she must now realize she’s subject to the Election Code,” said Bettencourt.
Bettencourt has not yet filed an ethics complaint. “My job is to inform the public and make sure that the jurisdictions that should be aware know.”
Bettencourt noted a large uptick in electioneering this year from government officials statewide, especially in Independent School Districts. These include two Denton ISD administrators—who pled guilty to criminal electioneering in August after urging their staff to vote for anti-school choice candidates in the 2024 Republican primary—and Frisco ISD settling two weeks ago with AG Ken Paxton for electioneering on school choice.
Bettencourt said he would review election laws in the next legislature, stating that 23 measures passed in the Texas Senate died in the House Elections Committee.
“All of this is going to be considered in the legislature 2025 because this stuff is getting out of hand with people and it’s just a sign of the times,” Bettencourt concluded. “People think they can just ignore the rules and run past the stop signs, and it’s up to the few of us who will call them out to call them out.”
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