Democrat Sean Teare is projected winner in tight Harris County district attorney race

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- A projected winner has emerged in the tight race for Harris County district attorney -- one of the Houston area's closest-watched races in the 2024 election.

With 100% of the expected votes reported just after 8 a.m. Wednesday, Democrat Sean Teare came out narrowly ahead with 51% of the vote.

Just over 24,000 votes separated Teare from the Republican nominee, Dan Simons, who ended the election with 49% of the vote.

In the March 5 primary, Teare defeated two-time incumbent DA and his former boss, Kim Ogg, by a nearly 50% margin. He served as the DA's office prosecutor for 11 years and was Ogg's lead prosecutor in the DA's Vehicular Crimes Division from 2017 to 2023. After the primary, Ogg went on to endorse Republican Ted Cruz for Senate.

Meanwhile, Simons worked as a Harris County prosecutor and served as an assistant district attorney under former Harris County DA Mike Anderson in 2013.

With Teare ahead in the race, he spoke on Tuesday night about his goals.

"I have been inside that office for 13 years. I've handled every kind of case they that have to handle from J.P. traffic tickets all the way up to capital murders and everything in between," Teare said. "I've spent the last seven years supervising hundreds of different lawyers, most of whom are still there."

ABC13 anticipates hearing from Teare about his win at some point on Wednesday. Come back to this post for updates.

Teare will take office in January and will replace Ogg after eight years in the role.

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