On a relatively quiet Thursday afternoon before Fort Bend County commissioners met for court, a group of residents lined up outside the Richmond courthouse holding colorful signs with the interim county judge's name on it.
"Wrong, Daniel Wong, wrong, wrong, wrong," Rosenberg resident Vanessa Luna said before the meeting, not addressing Wong directly. "I think that you, as an individual with character ... wait, do you actually have character? Do you know the definition of character? Well, if you have good character, you should remove your behind from that position and wait for the political party to vote for you later on. I have no problem with that."
Interim Fort Bend County Judge Daniel Wong, theRepublican nominee for the position in November’s general election, took his formal oath of office Thursday, cementing his tenure until the end of the year as chief executive for the diverse, fast-growing suburb southwest of Houston.
Wong was appointed to the role by Judge Jeth Jones, a visiting Republican district court judge from Galveston County, who suspended the elected county judge, KP George, in a corresponding move earlier this month. The suspension was Jones' response to aSeptember 2025 civil lawsuit filed by Fort Bend County residentSarah Roberts, who sought to remove George from office while arguing that he violated her First Amendment rights andwas incompetent to hold office.
Jones’ order was not related to George’s criminal conviction last month on felony money laundering charges, which could lead to his permanent removal from office. George, a Democrat-turned-Republican, also faces a misdemeanor trial in May and was set to leave office at the end of this year because he placed fifth in a March GOP primary won by Wong.
"As your county judge, I will lead with honesty," Wong said Thursday during commissioners court. "I'll work to ensure that our actions are open, our processes are clear and our accountabilities unwavering. Second, I will lead with integrity. That means doing what is right even when it's not easy, even when it's not popular."
Anna Lykoudis Zafiris, a Sugar Land resident and precinct chair for the Fort Bend County Democratic Party, was one of the seven public speakers who signed up to voice their opposition to Wong’s appointment. Zafiris called Jones’ decision a "hyper-partisan hijacking" of democracy.
"He could have sent the matter back over to our Fort Bend County Commissioners Court to keep the decisions about their government local," Zafiris said. "This is a fiasco. This is a travesty and a mockery of democracy. Not a single vote was cast, and yet our taxpayer dollars are going to be paying MAGA extremists to run our Fort Bend County government and it's a shame."
Since becoming interim county judge, Wong has made several appointments to his office. He choseTrever Nehls, the GOP nominee for Texas' 22nd Congressional District — a seat currently held by Nehls’ twin brother, U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls — as his chief of staff.
Trever Nehls will face Democrat Marquette Greene-Scott in November’s election. Greene-Scott attended the pre-meeting rally Thursday and called both appointments unacceptable.
"They're not just candidates, they're nominees,” Greene-Scott said. “So that's a big deal. I feel that it's creating an unfair advantage."
Wong also appointed the outgoing chairman of the Fort Bend County Republican Party, Bobby Eberle, as his communications director.
"I think what you're seeing with these comments is any effort to just dig up dirt and try to tarnish what should be something very special, and that is, his first meeting," Eberle said, referring to Wong.
One of the agenda items approved by commissioners with a 4-1 vote was to fund George's salary while on suspension. Precinct 4 Commissioner Dexter McCoy, a Democratic candidate for county judge who is facing Rachelle Carter in a May 26 primary runoff election, cast the dissenting vote.
The $52,000-plus, non-budgeted item, according to county officials, will be what's allotted to George until the June sentencing for his money laundering conviction. He was found guilty of two third-degree felonies, money laundering and tampering with campaign finance reports.
Before he took office, Wong said he had 60 hours from the time he was appointed to the time he was sworn in to assemble his team.
"The whole ruling kind of took everyone off guard," Eberle said, "but I think the judge (Jones) noticed that the Republican nominee is the ideal one to step in for a Republican (county) judge. And what Judge Wong did from the very beginning is to put a leadership team in place that could start to get things done."
George was elected as a Democrat in 2018 and 2022. He became a Republican last June, after his criminal indictments.
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