Texas AG's Office Sues Harris County Over Taxpayer-Funded Voter Ads Allegedly Targeted by Race
Days before the midterms, the Texas Attorney General's Office has taken Harris County election officials to court, alleging that taxpayer-funded voter outreach ads were aimed at Black, Latino and Asian residents while leaving out white residents and other groups.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Harris County district court, names County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth and communications director Irene Nuñez. The state is seeking an emergency order to stop the advertising before Election Day.
According to the complaint, the clerk's office used Meta's tools on Facebook and Instagram to steer "Get Out the Vote" and voter-awareness messages toward users tied to certain racial, ethnic and cultural interests. The alleged targeting criteria included African-American history, African-American literature, Hispanic kitchen and Latin dance, along with connections to numerous countries and foreign cities.
The state argues the county did not similarly target European ethnicities, and so used race and ethnicity to decide who was more likely to see government-funded election information.
"By classifying based upon race when advertising to provide Harris County voters with election information, the County Clerk's office exceeded its authority," the Attorney General's Office said.
The suit claims the campaign violated the equal-rights protections in the Texas Constitution. Meta's public Ad Library showed the clerk's office spent an estimated $43,429 over the previous 30 days on one group of the ads at issue.
The ads carried messages such as "Plan. Check. Vote!" and the lawsuit does not claim they told anyone whom to support. The challenge is to how a government office picked its audience.
The state wants a temporary restraining order requiring the county to turn off the ads or strip out the racial and ethnic targeting, followed by temporary and permanent injunctions. Early voting ends Friday, ahead of the November 3 election.
Attorney General Ken Paxton has recused himself from the case because he is on the ballot as the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, according to his office. First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster is among the officials pursuing it.
Harris County pushes back
County officials rejected the state's description of the program and said their goal was to give qualified voters accurate, nonpartisan information.
"We are confident that our voter outreach efforts are lawful," the clerk's office said Thursday.
The office also said it had deactivated the disputed Meta audience subsets so the lawsuit would not become a distraction during the election, and that it does not try to influence how residents vote. Harris County Attorney Abbie Kamin said her office was reviewing the suit and defended the county's efforts to reach voters.
Harris County, home to Houston, is the most populous county in Texas. Census data show it is about 46% Hispanic, 20.5% Black, nearly 25% white and 8% Asian.
The state may have a hard road ahead. University of Houston law professor Seth Chandler told KPRC that showing certain groups received the ads may not be enough to establish that officials intentionally discriminated. He said the case could turn on whether the county deliberately chose categories to favor particular racial groups or used cultural and interest-based categories as part of broader outreach.