Abbott says GOP will spend $25 million to flip Harris County red

Greg Abbott said he would aim most of his $90 million campaign account at Harris County, with about $25 million set aside for a precinct-by-precinct push to turn the county “dark red.” The governor’s pitch was not just about winning another election. It was a bid to reset who controls the county’s political machinery, from the courthouse to the ballot box, in Texas’ most populous urban county.

Harris County, which includes Houston and holds about one in six Texans, had spent the past decade trending blue after years as a classic battleground. Democrats swept most county offices in the 2018 midterms, but Republicans regained ground in 2024 when Donald Trump won 46% of the county vote, up from 43% in 2020, and GOP candidates captured 10 county judicial seats. Abbott has not won Harris County since his first race for governor in 2014, a reminder of how much work the party still sees ahead.

The money is being aimed at seven Houston-area districts long held by Democrats: those represented by Ana Hernandez, Mary Ann Perez, Jon Rosenthal, Penny Morales Shaw, Hubert Vo, Armando Walle and Gene Wu. Abbott said the effort would focus on turning out voters who already showed up in presidential elections and people who had never voted before, a sign that Republicans see both habitual voters and new voters as part of the same map to a comeback.

Abbott’s chief strategist, Dave Carney, said Republicans believe they already have enough voters in Harris County to win and expect some victories, though not a total wipeout. That calculation matters because Harris County politics now shape decisions that residents feel in daily life, including tax rates, public safety priorities and how elections are administered. A stronger Republican bench in countywide offices and judicial seats would give the party more leverage over those choices.

The timing also adds pressure on Democrats. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, who rode the 2018 blue wave by defeating Republican Ed Emmett, will not seek reelection. Abbott is seeking a fourth term as governor, and if he wins he would become the longest-serving governor in Texas history. In a county where turnout and precinct margins can still decide control, the next campaign will test whether Republican gains in 2024 were a foothold or a ceiling.