HOUSTON, Texas — Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is in a heated fight to keep her seat.
She's faced criticism over crime, corruption and what some call a bloated administration.
But the one-term incumbent stands behind her record and her staff.
"Under my leadership, you no longer have developers setting flood control policy," said Hidalgo. "We’re not listening to the NRA when it comes to what we do with gun violence and violent crime. We’re listening to the crime victims. We’re not outsourcing pollution control to industry.”
Click here to watch some of Alex Mealer's one-on-one interview, the Republican challenger for Harris County judge.
Hidalgo said the indictments of her chief of staff and others were politically motivated.
We asked her if voters should be concerned about those alleged corruption charges.
“I could’ve fired them and I could’ve said, you know, they did something wrong and wash my hands of it," said Hidalgo. "But they didn’t.”
Hidalgo blamed Republican commissioners for stymying her efforts to combat crime by, among other things, raising deputy salaries. She said that promising more boots on the ground is merely pandering because there are more than 450 fully funded but unfilled positions already.
"These are boots that are waiting for feet," said Hidalgo. "These are fully paid positions that we just need to hire officers to.”
Hidalgo’s more top-heavy administration includes the person assigned to oversee elections.
Her first pick for the position ended up resigning. But Hidalgo said she has full faith in this upcoming election running smoothly.
"We know that, in Harris County, there has not been any evidence of widespread fraud,” said Hidalgo.
That's something she said she plans to prevent in her second term if re-elected.