Incumbent Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez won for re-election Tuesday, holding off Republican challenger Mike Knox in a battle of veteran lawmen.
Complete but unofficial returns showed a much tighter race than was reflected in a University of Houston poll released in October, which showed a 16-point lead for Gonzalez.
With all 700 voting centers counted, returns on Wednesday showed Gonzalez winning with 53 percent of the vote compared to Knox’s near 47 percent.
Despite assurances of success from his election team, Gonzalez said he spent the night with fellow Democrats — many of whom also faced unexpectedly tight races — in “watch and see” mode until the morning’s returns confirmed his win.
“It felt great,” he told the Landing. “I never take it for granted.”
Gonzalez will continue to lead more than 5,000 deputies and staff when sworn in for a third term next year, and will face what the deputies’ union hopes is a looming countywide vote to give the officers the right to bargain with the county over wages and working conditions.
The third-term sheriff said he would use the next four years to make his office even more data-driven, attack the issue of domestic violence and overdoses, and address Harris County’s “dangerous driving culture,” among other initiatives.
“Some things are obviously going right if they’re selecting you once again,” Gonzalez said. “But at the same time, I always view it as an opportunity to make sure that we enter the new year and you cycle with a beginner’s mind … you take a fresh look, as if you were just starting from scratch.”
At the jail, he looked to expand mental health programs and support systems for the formerly incarcerated as they reenter into society.
He also pledged to launch a new council of stakeholders to examine the impacts of incarceration, take a holistic look at employment, housing and other systemic issues.
In the run-up to the election, Knox — a former policeman, union leader and city councilman — attacked Gonzalez’s effectiveness at running the jail and maintaining employee morale. Knox had pledged to crack down on crime and narrow the role of the sheriff’s office while reinstating the controversial 287(g) agreement, which would allow law enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants for removal by federal immigration authorities.
Gonzalez’s campaign leaned on his years at the helm of the department through various environmental and pandemic crises, and pledged to continue to change department culture, even as he contended with criticisms about his management of the jail.
Nineteen people died in custody in 2023, and reporting by the Houston Landing showed that six deaths went uncounted in 2018.
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