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An envelope with zip ties for the ballot box at a voting site for the primary runoff election at La Quinta Inn near the Galleria in Houston on Tuesday, May 24, 2022.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Conley, Houston Chronicle \/ Staff photographer<\/p>\n
A crowded six-candidate\u00a0Republican field for Harris County judge\u00a0has left two candidates standing<\/a>, and thousands of voters to win over.\u00a0<\/p>\n Orlando Sanchez, former Harris County treasurer and Houston City Council member,<\/a> is facing off against Warren Howell, a local businessman, in the May runoff. It\u2019s a race that will largely be colored by the GOP runoff for U.S. Senate between Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton, said Nancy Sims, a political science lecturer at the University of Houston.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor the Republican primary, everything is going to be centered around the Paxton-Cornyn runoff,\u201d Sims said. \u201cThat is going to drive their voter turnout much more than on the Democratic side, where they have a couple of statewide runoffs, but they’re in lower-profile offices.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n PREVIOUS: Harris County commissioners reject resolution calling for Judge Lina Hidalgo’s resignation<\/a><\/p>\n The dynamic\u00a0could lead Sanchez and Howell\u00a0to align themselves with\u00a0Paxton\u2019s platform to target hardcore partisans,\u00a0Sims said, but that would be\u00a0a fraught path that could alienate moderate Republicans in November.<\/p>\n So far, Sims said, Howell\u00a0and Sanchez appear primarily focused on winning over the thousands of voters who cast ballots for the other four candidates while maintaining the grassroots momentum that got them to the runoff.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to win over those other voters and really make sure the people who voted for them in March come back out and vote for them again,\u201d Sims said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Warren Howell – The businessman\u00a0<\/p>\n Howell, a businessman who’s worked in everything from roofing to risk management, is pitching himself as a non-traditional candidate who will leverage his experience leading companies to cut down on bloat in Harris County government.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 75-year-old Air Force veteran promises to use the office of county judge to cut spending, refocus government on road maintenance and public safety and trim departments that he said have become mired with hundreds of overpaid employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n “I’m running this campaign just like I run a business,” Howell said. “I have eight people just working their tails off to make darn sure we get elected. And that’s how we got in the runoff, because I had professionals, and we put it together. And of course, my message \u2014 we’re going to fix our government so we can have everything we need \u00a0\u2014 resonated just enough to get us into the runoff.”<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Howell previously ran for Harris County judge in 2022, finishing fifth in the Republican primary. This year he\u00a0took second place\u00a0with 20.8% of the vote \u2014 barely edging out firefighter-turned-union-leader Patrick “Marty” Lancton, who finished with 20.6%.\u00a0<\/p>\n MORE: Marty Lancton fails to make runoff for Harris County judge despite dwarfing opponents in fundraising<\/a><\/p>\n While Sanchez led the field at 26.5%, Howell said he feels confident he can make up that gap before the May runoff.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Ninety-four thousand votes are up for grabs,” Howell said. “We had polling people at every polling station, and our exit polling showed us that we were number two every time \u2014 whether that was among voters who voted for Aliza Dutt or Marty Lancton, we were the runner-up every time.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Among\u00a0Howell’s\u00a0priorities are empowering the county auditor to conduct forensic audits targeting fraud and waste, and exploring transferring the county’s public library system to the various independent school districts in unincorporated Harris County.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Unlike the mayor of Houston, the Harris County judge has little\u00a0power to unilaterally affect change. Instead, the judge’s authority is built on relationships with other elected officials. That dynamic could prove challenging for a Republican judge presiding over a court with a Democratic majority, but Howell said he plans to make alliances with commissioners he considers moderate to ensure the changes he wants to implement move forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Me and (Republican\u00a0Commissioner) Tom Ramsey would have to team up and talk (Democratic Commissioner) Lesley Briones into voting with us, because everything we bring, everything we do, is going to have so much common horse sense that you would almost look stupid if you didn’t vote for it,” Howell said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Orlando Sanchez – The traditionalist<\/p>\n Orlando Sanchez, candidate for Harris County Judge, works the polls at Trini Mendenhall Community Center on Election Day in Houston, Tuesday, March 2, 2026.<\/p>\n Jason Fochtman\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n Where Howell is campaigning as a political outsider who will boil county government back down to its core components, Sanchez is running as an established conservative with the experience<\/a> and knowledge to be an effective champion for local Republicans.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\nCourtesy<\/p>\n
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