Hudspeth defeats Wolfe in Harris County Clerk race

The Houston Chronicle reported Nov. 3 that Democratic incumbent Teneshia Hudspeth won the Harris County Clerk race with 831,525 votes, or 62.6%, to Republican Mike Wolfe's 495,870 votes, or 37.4%, according to unofficial results from Harris County Clerk Elections Department. All 1,224 reporting units have reported. Hudspeth's margin was 335,655 votes, or 25.2 percentage points.

What was at stake

The Harris County Clerk's Office records and maintains records for Commissioners Court, Probate Courts and County Civil Courts at Law, according to a county clerk press release. It also handles property records, marriage licenses, birth and death records, military discharge records and other vital documents. The clerk serves as the county's chief election official for the third-largest county in the nation, with a population of more than 4.9 million, according to the county clerk's website.

The key issues:

• Wolfe said in a candidate questionnaire that he was running to "restore public trust, boost efficiency, and modernize the office's digital systems, elections, records, and operations." He said he would publish performance metrics and wait times and improve election-worker staffing.
• Hudspeth's office faced a lawsuit filed Oct. 29 by the Texas attorney general's office, which alleged the clerk's office used Meta ad tools to target voter outreach ads to certain racial and ethnic groups, as first reported by Click2Houston. Hudspeth's office said in a statement that it was "confident that our voter outreach efforts are lawful" and that it had deactivated the Meta audience subsets.
• The office oversees elections and records for all Harris County residents, including those in unincorporated Spring.

A little history

Hudspeth has been with the County Clerk's Office for 19 years and served under four county clerks before winning the office in 2020, according to the county clerk's website. She is the first African-American woman to hold the position. She won re-election in 2022, according to a county clerk press release.

Wolfe, a Harris County native, served 12 years as an at-large trustee on the Harris County Department of Education Board, according to his candidate questionnaire. He also worked as a child support officer for the Texas attorney general's office and as assistant director of government affairs for former District Clerk Chris Daniel.

What's next

The results remain unofficial until Harris County Commissioners Court completes the canvass. Under a Texas Secretary of State election advisory, the local canvass must occur no earlier than Nov. 6 and no later than Nov. 17. Late-arriving domestic mail ballots postmarked by 7 p.m. on Nov. 3 may be received through Nov. 4, and overseas and military ballots may arrive through Nov. 9.

Election results: Harris County Clerk (Texas General Election, 2026-11-03)

Source: Harris County Clerk Elections Department. Results current as of Nov. 4, 2026, 8:39 a.m. CST. Reporting: 1,224 of 1,224. Unofficial results; every reporting unit has reported.