Harris County D.A. Sean Teare recuses himself from bid-rigging case allegedly involving Hidalgo’s aides

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - In his first major public announcement as Harris County District Attorney, Sean Teare formally recused himself and the office he leads from the prosecution of an alleged multi-million-dollar bid-rigging scheme involving key aides to Judge Lina Hidalgo.

During his primary campaign, Teare loudly accused incumbent Kim Ogg of "weaponizing" the DA's office against her political adversaries - an accusation many perceived as an unspoken pledge to dismiss charges lodged against Hidalgo's former chief of staff and two other top advisors.

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"We have got to come to the right ideas together and put them into place, and you can't do that if your main goal is weaponizing the District Attorney's office. You can't do that if your main goal is to weaponize the District Attorney's Office in order to attack the people you disagree with," said Teare in January 2024.

Fueled, in part, by Hidalgo's full endorsement, Teare handily won that pivotal Democratic primary.

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Less than three months later, Ogg announced she was transferring prosecution of the $11 million corruption case to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as a preemptive action to block a possible "endorsement-for-dismissal" deal and to assure that the substantial evidence gathered in the case actually reached a jury.

"Teare sought and received the enthusiastic political endorsement of the Harris County Judge whose office is at the center of the on-going controversy and criminal investigation. All of this raises the specter of fixing cases for political support," said Ogg at an April 28, 2024 news conference.

Teare delivered news of the formal recusal via a written statement.

"Our community deserves a DA who not only removes politics from the prosecution of any criminal case, but who will also bend over backwards to avoid even the appearance of any conflict of interest," said Teare.