Bob’s Breakdown: Texas Democratic star Lina Hidalgo’s future, Trump’s Tarrant County endorsements

You hear that people, after almost two years of a COVID-19 lockdown, are angry. If so, you assume that they’d want to take it out on someone at the ballot box. Texans, though, aren’t surging to cast ballots in the first few days of early voting before the March 1 primary: Through close of business Tuesday, just 1.38% of the state’s 17.2 million registered voters had cast in-person and by-mail early votes, according to Sam Taylor, spokesman for Texas Secretary of State John Scott. Hmm. But wait, there’s some drama here, folks, really! If you look past the primaries for statewide offices, at some of the races for county office in Texas’ most populous counties, you’ll see contests that may give us answers to some intriguing questions. Such as:

Is Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo the next best hope of state Democrats? If so, doesn’t she need to reinforce her brand by winning re-election, even in the face of strong challenges in what’s shaping up as a Republican year? In Tarrant County – special to me for many reasons, not least because I was born there – could we learn national lessons about the future of the GOP from a hot county judge’s race? What about Tarrant’s free-for-all for district attorney? And in Dallas County, is Gov Greg Abbott’s probably least-favorite county judge – we’re talking here about Democrat Clay Jenkins – going to continue to be a pesky irritant to the powers that be in Austin? Let’s break it down by Harris Dems, Harris Rs, Tarrant county judge, Tarrant DA and Dallas county judge: Democratic primary for Harris County judge: As of the March primary, at the ripe old age of 31, Hidalgo is probably Texas Democrats’ strongest player on the bench as they survey upcoming shots at U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (2024) and possible open seat races for governor or lieutenant governor (or a crack at U.S. Sen. John Cornyn) two years after that. Republican primary for Tarrant County judge: Former President Donald Trump and newly elected Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin loom over the race to succeed GOP Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, who is retiring after three terms. Former Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price roughly fits the Whitley mold – of being pro-business and tending to the unglamorous work of county government, such as transportation, economic development and courts. Former Tarrant County GOP Chairman Tim O’Hare, who unsuccessfully sought to bar landlords from renting to immigrants when he was mayor of Farmers Branch, but had more success as founder of the Southlake Families PAC, which went after Carroll ISD’s diversity and inclusion plan, has mounted the strongest bid of the four other Republicans running.