2024 Harris County District Attorney election
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The 2024 Harris County District Attorney election was held on November 5, 2024, to elect the District Attorney of Harris County. Primary elections were held on March 5, 2024.
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November 5, 2024
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| Turnout | 58.84%[1] | |||||||||||||||
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Incumbent Democratic District Attorney Kim Ogg ran for reelection to a third term, but was defeated in the Democratic primary by former prosecutor Sean Teare. Teare then went on to win the general election over Republican nominee and fellow former prosecutor Dan Simons, 51% to 49%.[2][3][4]
Democratic primary
Background
Kim Ogg had previously investigated county elected officials and staffers several times after having public disagreements over issues such as bail reform, violence interruption program implementation, and her office's budget. Almost $1 million in taxpayer dollars were spent on legal fees for investigations that never resulted in criminal charges.[5]
A Harris County grand jury indicted three senior advisors to Harris County Democrat Judge Lina Hidalgo in April 2022 on two public corruption felonies each. The charges, each first-degree felonies, involved allegedly steering an $11 million COVID vaccine outreach campaign to a one-person consulting firm owned by a Democratic strategist. The Texas Rangers investigated the cases. All three charges were eventually dismissed after a review of the evidence by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.[6]
In December 2023, Kim Ogg was admonished by the local Democratic Party,[7] which alleged she "abused the power of her office to pursue personal vendettas against her political opponents, sided with Republicans to advance their extremist agenda, and stood in the way of fixing the broken criminal justice system."[8] Ogg went on to lose the Democratic primary in a landslide to former prosecutor Sean Teare, being defeated by a margin of 50 points as an incumbent.
Candidates
Nominee
- Sean Teare, former prosecutor.[9]
Eliminated in primary
- Kim Ogg, incumbent District Attorney.[10]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Sean Teare | 126,449 | 75.00% | |
| Democratic | Kim Ogg (incumbent) | 42,149 | 25.00% | |
| Total votes | 168,598 | 100.00% | ||
Republican nomination
Candidates
Nominee
- Dan Simons, former prosecutor.
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Dan Simons | 145,293 | 100.00% | |
| Total votes | 145,293 | 100.00% | ||
General election
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Sean Teare | 749,403 | 50.95% | |
| Republican | Dan Simons | 721,563 | 49.05% | |
| Total votes | 1,470,966 | 100.00% | ||
| Democratic hold | ||||