Who is Lina Hidalgo? All about the Texas county judge who 'abruptly' ended her meeting to attend a Hans Zimmer concert

Lina Hidalgo, the judge of Harris County in the state of Texas, unexpectedly departed from a budget meeting last month and made headlines after she accused her colleagues of not supporting childhood programs in the county. Now, her correspondence with her chief of staff is revealing that her decision to abruptly leave the meeting with the commissioners of Texas could very well have been planned, as per Houston Chronicle. It is being assumed that she left the meeting in a hurry to attend a Hans Zimmer concert that same day.

As the Harris County judge, Lina Hidalgo is responsible for a number of executive roles related to the administration of her constituency. The position of the county judge, which Hidalgo holds, is not a judicial one.

As per Texas Observer, Hidalgo’s duties include executing the payroll of more 18000 employees. Hidalgo is also the director of Harris County’s emergency management, as per the same report.

Why is Lina Hidalgo in the news?

On September 9, Lina Hidalgo abruptly left a meeting when her proposal to receive funds for child care programs was turned down by the commissioner of courts in Texas’ Harris County. At the time, the commissioners were engaged in an intense tussle on the issue of cuts to tide over the county’s budget deficit of $275 million, according to an earlier report by Houston Chronicle.

The publication noted that Hidalgo stormed out of the meeting before it ended, and said,

“I'm gonna leave it to Commissioner Ellis, and I'll just say again for the record, colleagues, I don't know what we're doing here for not standing up for children. Shame on you.”

While the Harris County judge’s act of leaving the meeting last month drew the attention of people and media outlets alike, her social media post later that day revealed that she went to a Hans Zimmer concert which was supposed to begin less than an hour after she left the meeting at 6:50 p.m.

According to the news report by Houston Chronicle, messages sent to Hidalgo’s chief of staff Angelica Kaufman reveal that the judge was initially planning to leave the meeting by 5:45 p.m., and intended to shop for merchandise at the venue, Toyota Center.

The publication shared the screen grab of a message sent on September 8, according to which Hidalgo wrote to Kaufman,

“(A friend) wants us to get there by 6:30 p.m. if possible because he wants to buy some merch.”

According to Raw Story, the messages suggest that Hidalgo’s departure from the budget meeting could have been planned by the judge.

More about Lina Hidalgo

Lina Hidalgo made history in 2018 when she came became the first woman to be elected as the Judge of Harris County, as per her biography on the website of Carnegie Foundation of New York. According to the same biography, she is also the first Latina to hold the post.

Hidalgo’s feat also drew inspiration for her community as she is the daughter of Colombian immigrants who moved to the U.S. when she was five years old, as per the judge’s biography on the website of John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. The same biography also mentions that her family moved to the U.S. in order to escape the endless cycle of gang violence that ravaged the capital of their native country.

Hidalgo’s election campaign focused on the issues of childcare and government transparency, issues which are of immense importance for all the bipartisan electorates, as per Forbes. This strategy helped her consolidate the demography of her electorate.