Harris County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas;as of the 2020 census,the population was 4,731,145,making it the most populous county in Texas and the third-most populous county in the United States. Its county seat is Houston,the most populous city in Texas and fourth-most populous city in the United States. The county was founded in 1836 and organized in 1837. It is named for John Richardson Harris,who founded the town of Harrisburg on Buffalo Bayou in 1826. According to the July 2023 census estimate,Harris County's population has shifted to 4,835,125 comprising over 16% of Texas's population. Harris County is included in the nine-county Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area,which is the fifth-most populous metropolitan area in the United States.
Atascocita is a census-designated place (CDP) in Harris County,Texas,United States,within the Houston metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 88,174. It is located north and south of Farm to Market Road 1960 about 6 miles (10 km) east of Humble and 18 miles (29 km) northeast of downtown Houston in northeastern Harris County.
South Houston is a city in the U.S. state of Texas,within Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan area and Harris County. The population was 16,153 at the 2020 census. It is bordered by the cities of Houston and Pasadena,and geographically located southeast of Houston.
Lee Patrick Brown is an American politician,criminologist and businessman;in 1997 he was the first African-American to be elected mayor of Houston,Texas. He was re-elected twice to serve the maximum of three terms from 1998 to 2004.
Kathryn Jean Whitmire is an American politician,businesswoman,and accountant best known as the first woman to serve as Mayor of Houston,serving for five consecutive two-year terms from 1982 to 1992. From 1977 to 1981,she was the city controller,a position which made her the first woman elected to any office in the city. Whitmire drew national attention when she defeated former Harris County Sheriff Jack Heard in her election as mayor. The election drew national focus because it symbolized a major political realignment in the fourth-largest city in the United States.
John Harris Whitmire is an American attorney and politician who has served as the 63rd mayor of Houston,the most populous city in Texas,since 2024. A member of the Democratic Party,Whitmire was previously a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1973 until 1983,and the Texas State Senate from 1983 to 2023. In the state senate,he represented District 15,which included much of northern Houston.
Rodney Glenn Ellis is an American politician. He represented Texas' 13th state senate district in the Texas Senate from 1990 to 2017. The district contains portions of Harris County,including downtown Houston,and Fort Bend County. He is a member of the Democratic Party. On June 25,2016,Ellis won the Democratic Party's nomination for Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 1. He was elected county commissioner on November 8,2016 and sworn into office on January 1,2017.
The politics of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas are complex and constantly shifting in part because the city is one of the fastest growing major cities in the United States and is the largest without zoning laws. Houston was founded in 1836 and incorporated in 1837. The city is the county seat of Harris County. A portion of southwest Houston extends into Fort Bend County and a small portion in the northeast extends into Montgomery County.
The San Francisco Sheriff's Office (SFSO),officially the City and County of San Francisco Sheriff's Office,is the sheriff's office for the City and County of San Francisco. The current sheriff is Paul Miyamoto. The department has 850 deputized personnel and support staff. The SFSO is a separate organization from the San Francisco Police Department. However,SFSO deputies and SFPD officers have all attended a POST-mandated police academy,and are duly sworn California peace officers.
In the U.S. state of Texas,a constable is an elected law enforcement officer for a precinct of a county. Counties may have between one and eight precincts each depending on their population.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) is a local law enforcement agency serving the over four million citizens of Harris County,Texas,United States. It is headquartered on the first and second floors in the 1200 Baker Street Jail in Downtown Houston.
Clarence O'Neal Bradford,known as C.O. "Clarence" Bradford,is a Houston City Council member,a former chief of police of Houston,Texas,and in 2008 an unsuccessful Democratic Party candidate for District Attorney of Harris County,Texas. On November 3,2009,Bradford was elected to the Houston City Council from At-large Position 4 and took office January 2,2010. In the 2011 election,Bradford won a second term as a Houston City Councilmember.
Tommy Thomas is the former Republican sheriff of Harris County,Texas.
Michael Hennessey is an American attorney and former Sheriff of San Francisco. Hennessey was elected in a run-off election in December 1979 and served until 2012,becoming the longest serving Sheriff in the history of San Francisco and was the longest tenured Sheriff in the State of California.
In June 2010,K9s4COPs was founded by Kristi Schiller of Houston,Texas,to raise charitable funds to donate K9s to law enforcement agencies and school districts across the nation.
The 2015 Houston mayoral election was decided by a runoff that took place on December 12,2015,to elect the Mayor of Houston,Texas. As no candidate won a majority of the vote during the general election on November 3,2015,the run off was held between the top two finishers,Sylvester Turner,who received 31.31% of the vote,and Bill King,who received 25.27%. In the run-off,Turner edged King,51% to 49%,to become the 62nd Mayor of Houston.
Sandra Annette Bland was a 28-year-old African-American woman who was found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County,Texas,on July 13,2015,three days after being arrested during a traffic stop. Officials found her death to be a suicide. There were protests against her arrest,disputing the cause of death,and alleging racial violence against her.
The government of Harris County,Texas maintains its main jail complex in Downtown Houston,Texas. The complex,operated by the Harris County Sheriff's Office (HCSO),lies in the peninsula formed by the Buffalo Bayou in northern Downtown. While most of the complex is based on county jails serving Harris County,Joe Kegans State Jail is also located within the complex. The Harris County District Court is located just next to the jail complex.
Ed Gonzalez is an American law enforcement officer and has served as the 30th sheriff of Harris County,Texas,since January 2017. Gonzalez was the nominee for director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement until he withdrew the nomination in June 2022.
The 2023 Houston mayoral election was held on November 7,2023,with a runoff on December 9 because no candidate won a majority of the vote in the first round. It was held to elect the mayor of Houston,Texas. Incumbent Democratic mayor Sylvester Turner was term-limited and could not seek re-election to a third term in office. Municipal elections in Texas are officially nonpartisan.
