An appellate court is considering whether Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia vacated his seat when he accepted an appointment to a second public office in 2023.
Richard Vega, Garcia’s Republican challenger for the Precinct 2 seat in November, is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
The First Court of Appeals in Houston heard oral arguments in the case on Wednesday.
Background
Garcia (D) was elected to the Harris County Commissioners Court in 2018. In 2021, the commissioners court appointed him to the board of the Gulf Coast Protection District (GCPD). He accepted a reappointment to that position in August 2023.
Mark Goloby filed a lawsuit alongside Vega in 2024 against all five members of the commissioners court, arguing the GCPD is “a second taxing entity with overlapping authority over the very same residents he is supposed to represent.”
For this reason, the lawsuit contends that by accepting his appointment to the GCPD, Garcia “automatically resigned his position as Commissioner.”
Plaintiffs argue that holding both positions simultaneously violates Texas law prohibiting public officials from occupying two offices with conflicting duties.
Under the Texas Election Code, if an officer “accepts another office and the two offices may not lawfully be held simultaneously, a vacancy in the first office occurs on the date the person qualifies for the other office.”
The GCPD, established by the Texas Legislature in 2021 to oversee coastal protection projects, holds powers such as taxation and eminent domain, which, according to plaintiffs, overlap with those of the Harris County Commissioners Court and create a conflict of interest for Garcia.
The lawsuit seeks to enjoin any further payment of Garcia’s taxpayer-funded commissioner’s salary, exceeding $180,000 annually.
Plaintiffs also seek to void any of the commissioners court’s 3-2 decisions in which Garcia was in the majority from August 2021 through December 2022—a period when the commissioners court was split 3-2 along party lines many times, and when Garcia was allegedly ineligible to vote.
Because the alleged vacancy requires an election to fill it, plaintiffs are petitioning the court for mandamus relief—ordering the commissioners court to call a special election to “fill the vacancy that presently exists in the Precinct 2 office.”
Defendants argued that Garcia violated the “self-appointment doctrine,” since he served on the commissioners court that issued the appointment. This made the appointment invalid, meaning he never vacated his commissioners seat.
The 333rd District Court in Harris County sided with county lawyers and threw out the case on jurisdictional grounds, finding it lacked authority to declare the seat vacant or order an election. It did not consider the merits.
Plaintiffs appealed this decision to the First Court of Appeals.
The court is considering whether Vega has standing as a candidate to seek a writ of mandamus, whether Garcia automatically resigned from the commissioners court by accepting his GCPD position, and whether it should order the commissioners court to call a special election to fill Garcia’s seat.
Oral Arguments
Oral arguments were heard on Wednesday and the court has yet to make a decision.
Counsel for the plaintiffs argued that “The self-appointment rule is not a get out of jail free card for what actually happened, which was that Mr. Garcia assumed the second office that conflicts with his loyalty to Harris County and Precinct 2.”
The court appeared to acknowledge that “in actuality the appointment happened,” as Garcia proceeded to serve on the board.
The defense maintained that “Maybe in fact, he went to meetings and cast votes [for the GCPD], but as a matter of law he never sat in that chair.”
In anticipation of oral arguments, Vega detailed the case’s significance.
“The county itself tried to have the case dismissed, hoping to sweep this issue under the rug, but the Court refused, making it clear that the law cannot be ignored,” said Vega. “This isn’t a political maneuver, it’s about whether our laws and public trust mean anything at all in Harris County.”
“Whatever the outcome, the larger principle remains: Precinct 2 voters have a right to undivided representation,” he continued. “The current term runs through December 2026, but the time to demand accountability is now.
Vega is self-described as “a Houston native, U.S. Army veteran, businessman, pastor, and nonprofit founder dedicated to faith, service, and conservative values.”
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