Dexter McCoy is the first Black county judge in the history of Fort Bend County, Texas. He beat Republican Daniel Wong on Tuesday, about 59% to 41% in unofficial returns, in a county where a white-only party primary shut Black voters out of the real decision for more than six decades.
McCoy, 34, has been the Precinct 4 commissioner since 2022, when he became the youngest commissioner the county had seen. He will now lead the five-member Commissioners Court, which sets the county budget and decides on roads, public safety and emergency management. Despite the title, the county judge does not preside over a courtroom. The term begins in January 2027.
“I think residents showed up tonight, sent a resounding message,” McCoy said, as the Defender Network reported. “What this means is a government that’s actually going to move and work and fight for the people.”
The history behind the first is specific. After Reconstruction, when Black men such as Sheriff Walter Burton and Justice of the Peace Shade Croome held office in Fort Bend, the white-supremacist Jaybird Party ran a “white-only pre-primary” that kept Black voters out of the real decisions until 1950. A Black man winning the county’s top office 76 years after that ended is not a small thing in a place with that record.
He also won in a county that had spent the year in turmoil. Former County Judge KP George was suspended from office earlier in 2026 amid legal proceedings, and Wong, a former Sugar Land City Council member, was appointed to fill the seat in April. His authority to keep the job was later disputed after the civil case that prompted the appointment was dismissed. Wong ran on transparency and restoring public trust. McCoy ran on affordability, improving infrastructure and managing rapid population growth, and voters picked him.
He did not win alone. Democrats carried the district attorney, district clerk, county clerk and county treasurer races with about 60% each, took both commissioner races and dominated the district court and county court-at-law contests, according to Covering Katy News. Republicans held both Precinct 1 justice of the peace seats, and a state House race, District 26, was decided by 135 votes in the Republican’s favor.
Fort Bend is one of the most diverse counties in the United States, and for generations its Black residents were kept from the ballot that decided who ran it. The test now is the budget: McCoy promised affordability and infrastructure in a county adding people fast, and the Commissioners Court is where those promises get funded or not. He takes the gavel in January.
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