Harris County
Most populous Texas county and third largest in the US; its seat is Houston.
Harris County, home to Houston, was among six local governments whose suit ended FEMA's election conditions on counterterrorism grants on 28 September 2026; County Attorney Abbie Kamin called it a stand "against blatant federal overreach".
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026
Timeline for Harris County
Mentioned in: Judge Ali voids FEMA election conditions
US Midterms 2026Background
Harris County is the most populous county in Texas and the third largest in the US, behind Los Angeles and Cook counties, with about 5.0 million residents by the Census Bureau's July 2024 estimate. Harris County's seat is Houston.
In August 2026 the county joined Nashville's metropolitan government, Travis, Dallas and El Paso counties and the city of Columbus, Ohio, in suing the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA. The conditions they challenged would have made a state forfeit a fifth of its Homeland Security Grant Program counterterrorism money unless it checked registrants through SAVE, hand-counted a 5% sample of paper ballots and moved off voting machines.
Judge Amir Ali vacated those conditions on 28 September. County Attorney Abbie Kamin called the ruling "the result of cities and counties standing together against blatant federal overreach".