The Harris County Clerk’s Office on Thursday night changed advertising settings on online get-out-the-vote ads after the Texas Attorney General’s Office sued over settings they described as “racially discriminatory” in targeting certain voters.
Both the Attorney General’s Office and interim Harris County Attorney Abbie Kamin declared victory in statements on Friday, after coming to an interim agreement to remove audience tags on the ads.
The interim agreement, which was read aloud in a hearing on Friday, halted the target ads through Election Day, according to a spokesperson with the Harris County Attorney’s Office. The agreement does not settle the Attorney General Office’s Thursday lawsuit
Under the secured agreement — labeled a “legal victory” — the Harris County Clerk’s Office agreed to remove the advertisements and refrain from reactivating those settings during the applicable election period, according to the statement from the Attorney General’s Office.
“Ken Paxton is clearly grasping at straws, trying to remain relevant and manufacture distractions. The Agreement is a win for Harris County, ensuring the Attorney General’s preposterous and baseless claims do not take away time and resources from critical county operations — Paxton’s thinly veiled political stunt has taken enough of our time,” Kamin said in a statement.
The Attorney General’s Office sued the clerk Thursday for promoting get-out-the-vote ads, alleging they targeted Black, Latino and Asian voters while excluding “European ethnicities.”
The lawsuit asked a Harris County district judge to order the social media ads to be pulled or reconfigured to remove all identifiers targeting voters along racial and ethnic lines.
The lawsuit argues that ads on Meta platforms like Facebook and Instagram included tags that intentionally directed them toward users with African, Asian and Latino-related interests and backgrounds.
The listed tags included African-American literature, Latin music, Hispanic kitchen, East Asia, 27 different countries and several foreign cities, including Madrid and Bangkok.
The lawsuit argues the clerk’s office acted unconstitutionally by using ad targeting that prioritizes people of certain ethnicities but not others.
“There can be no legitimate reason for Harris County to intentionally target voter ethnicities, cultural interests, and countries, but not toward any European ethnicities, cultural interests, or countries, never mind towards interests tailored specifically to those in Houston or Texas — those who would actually be voting in Harris County Elections,” the lawsuit said.
The ads, which encourage voters to make a plan to vote, began running in late September and early October, according to the petition.
“Every moment that these advertisements remain active and improperly targeting users based on their race or ethnicity, Defendants are violating the Texas Constitution,” the lawsuit read.
Before the agreement was made, the Harris County Attorney’s Office said it was reviewing the lawsuit, and called it a “pathetic political distraction” in a statement Thursday on social media.
“Harris County remains hyper-focused on ensuring every eligible voter’s voice is heard and their votes protected, not sideshows that appease grandstanding,” the statement read.
A statement from Paxton’s office accused the Harris County clerk of running the ads “in an effort to increase voter turnout among particular races and ethnicities.”
The statement also said Paxton was not participating in the lawsuit because he is on the ballot as the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate. Paxton’s office did not respond to questions about what point in the lawsuit process the attorney general recused himself or how the office was made aware of the ad targeting.
U.S. Rep. Christian Menefeea Democrat who represents part of Houston, condemned the lawsuit in a social media statement that accused Paxton of wanting “to stop Houstonians from going to the polls.”
“He’s whining about ads that do nothing more than tell neighbors when to vote and where to get information about voting,” Menefee said. “Paxton is upset that diverse voters across Harris County are making their voices heard.”
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