Campaign Signs Come Down by Friday: Texas Gives Houston Campaigns Until November 13, the 10th Day After the Election
The exemption that let signs go up on August 5 expires Friday. Signs still standing after November 13 lose their protection under Transportation Code 391.005 - and any sign in a highway right-of-way can be removed by TxDOT without notice, with the bill sent to the campaign.
The election ended on November 3. The signs' legal life ends on Friday. Under Texas law, the political signs still standing in Houston yards and along Houston roads must be removed by Friday, November 13 - the tenth day after the general election - and KPRC's post-election roundup puts the deadline bluntly, calling the leftover signs among the biggest eyesores of the week for a reason: winning and losing campaigns alike are on the same clock.
The deadline is not a courtesy; it is half of the bargain that lets the signs exist at all. Section 391.005 of the Texas Transportation Code exempts an election sign from highway-beautification permitting only if it sits on private property, went up no earlier than the 90th day before the election, comes down no later than the 10th day after it, is built from lightweight material and measures 50 square feet or smaller. For the November 3, 2026 election, that window ran from August 5 to November 13. A sign still up on Saturday stands outside the exemption.
Signs in the wrong place never had the exemption to lose. Texas Election Code Section 259.001 requires every political advertising sign to carry the printed notice that placing it in the right-of-way of a highway violates state law, and Chapters 392 and 393 make a right-of-way placement a Class C misdemeanor. TxDOT's own manual is explicit that political signs on the right of way are illegal and that no notification is required before removal; the department can take the sign down and charge the removal cost to its owner.
For campaigns, the practical work is a route run: pull the yard signs, the fence signs and the big roadside panels while the exemption still covers the crews collecting them. For residents, the rule of thumb is simpler - a sign on your own lawn is yours to pull any time, and a sign in a right-of-way is the state's to pull without asking. By Saturday morning, Houston's corners should tell the story of an election that is actually over.
