HOUSTON — Lina Hidalgo, chief executive of the third-largest US county and the largest one in Texas, has checked in to a medical facility outside the state to be treated for clinical depression, she said on Monday (Aug 7).
Hidalgo, a Democrat elected in 2018 to lead the county of 4.9 million residents, has battled Republican state officials over election administration and police funding. Last November, she won re-election as Harris County judge against a well-funded political novice with a slim margin of about 17,000 votes.
Hidalgo has also clashed with county's district attorney, Kim Ogg, and in June cursed during a public commissioners' meeting in a discussion related to Ogg.
Three of Hidalgo's former aides have been indicted for helping steer Covid-outreach contracts to a party consultant.
"I am one of the over 21 million American adults that is suffering from clinical depression," Hidalgo said in a public letter, adding she was diagnosed and entered a treatment facility last month. She hopes to resume a normal schedule by early September, Hidalgo wrote.
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