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(AP Photo\/LM Otero)<\/p>\n
Using both the English and Spanish language, a sign points potential voters to an official polling location during early voting in Texas.<\/p>\n
Harris County voters are heading to the polls for early voting this week to select their nominees to replace County Judge Lina Hidalgo next year. <\/p>\n
Two Democrats and two Republicans are vying for the position in next Tuesday\u2019s primary runoff elections<\/a>. The winners advance to the general election in November, when voters will pick a new executive leader for Texas\u2019 most populous county. <\/p>\n On the Democratic ballot, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker faces Letitia Plummer \u2014 a former Houston City Council member \u2014 after neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote during the first round of primary voting<\/a> in March. Orlando Sanchez and Warren Howell are facing off<\/a> for the Republican nomination.<\/p>\n Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n Parker, recognized as the city\u2019s first openly gay mayor, served in the position from 2010 to 2016. She previously had stints as a Houston City Council member and city controller. After her tenure as mayor, Parker led the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, a Washington D.C.-based political action committee and top donor in her county judge campaign. <\/p>\n In a previous interview with Houston Public Media, Plummer, a dentist and 5-year city council member, called herself an underdog in the race for county judge. She\u2019s campaigned on plans to reduce recidivism in the Harris County Jail and halt county property tax increases.<\/p>\n Parker held a substantial lead over Plummer \u2014 by 18 percentage points \u2014 in a recent University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs survey. While Parker was favored in the poll by likely Latino voters and independents, Plummer held a lead among likely Black voters by more than 25 percentage points. <\/p>\n RELATED: Parker leads Plummer by double digits in Democratic primary runoff for Harris County judge, poll finds<\/a><\/p>\n Sarah Grunau\/ Houston Public Media<\/p>\n Annise Parker celebrates at a primary election watch party on March 3, 2026.<\/p>\n Experts say Parker represents a sharp contrast to Hidalgo \u2014 who became the first woman and first Latina to serve in the position after she was first elected in 2018. Hidalgo found herself in various public feuds with her Democratic colleagues<\/a> over the years and announced in September that she would not seek a third term<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cParker is much more of a consensus-type oriented politician who would focus on working with members of the commissioners court rather than against them,\u201d said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. \u201cI think if Parker is the next county judge, we would expect to see a more harmonious commissioners court working more productively on a wide range of issues.\u201d<\/p>\n Parker has campaigned on making Harris County more affordable through policies to reduce the cost of living and establishing a workforce program to give preferences to local firms that participate in apprenticeship programs<\/a>. As Houston\u2019s 61st mayor, Parker cut city spending in the wake of the 2008 recession. She also led comprehensive initiatives to fix city streets and establish anti-discrimination protections. <\/p>\n Plummer, who served as a city council member and announced her bid<\/a> for the county judge\u2019s seat last summer, was first elected to an at-large position on the city council in 2020. She wants to establish stronger ties between county and city leadership and \u201ctighten the belt\u201d by looking at where the most money is being spent.<\/p>\n Sarah Grunau\/Houston Public Media<\/p>\n Houston City Council member Letitia Plummer announces a run for Harris County Judge on Tuesday, July 8, 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s time to look at how we\u2019re spending the resources,\u201d Plummer said while announcing her campaign last July. \u201cIt puts onus and force to the state and the federal government to drive down the dollars that we need. Infrastructure is really what\u2019s waning here and we got to make sure we as a county work together, but we also have to drive down those resources from the state and federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n Harris County is projecting a $129 million budget shortfall heading into the 2027 fiscal year, according to a budget presentation last week. The projected deficit was exacerbated by costly law enforcement pay raises<\/a> last year and rising inflationary costs.<\/p>\n Jones called Plummer a wild card in the race. <\/p>\n \u201cLetitia Plummer clearly has more experience than Lina Hidalgo had when she arrived in office, but it\u2019s an open question of whether Plummer would be able to hit the ground running or whether she would face a steep learning curve as county judge,\u201d Jones said. <\/p>\n If Plummer rises as the Democratic nominee for the position, it\u2019s more likely for the Republican county judge nominee to mount an effective campaign in November, Jones said. <\/p>\n \u201cBut the Republican nominee will have a Herculean task of trying to defeat them given the blue lean that Harris County naturally has,\u201d Jones said. <\/p>\n Republican race Dominic Walsh\/HPM<\/p>\n Orlando Sanchez at Picos in Upper Kirby on March 3, 2026.<\/p>\n Sanchez, a former Harris County treasurer and at-large city council member, led the six-candidate Republican race for county judge in March with 26.5% of the vote. In the runoff he\u2019s facing U.S. Air Force veteran Warren Howell, who placed second in March with 20.8% of the vote. <\/p>\n Despite an aggressive campaign that drew Texas Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s endorsement and more than $500,000 in donations, Houston firefighters union leader Marty Lancton fell short of qualifying for the runoff after receiving 20.6% of the vote in March. <\/p>\n Sanchez, who\u2019s raised more than $113,000, established himself in his bid for county judge as an experienced conservative politician, vowing to slash property tax rates and prioritize public safety. His campaign is backed by GOP heavyweights including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, state Sen. Paul Bettencourt and Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey. <\/p>\n Howell, meanwhile, has appeared to front a conservative grassroots campaign for the seat. His campaign website<\/a> details a proposal to create a \u201cwall of shame\u201d webpage to highlight commissioner precincts with the most potholes, along with a plan to contract with artificial intelligence companies to streamline county operations and contracts. <\/p>\n \u201cAgainst the odds and after months of hard work across every corner of the county, we disrupted the status quo and the established narrative with our message of real reform, smaller government, and disciplined leadership,\u201d Howell said in a statement after the March election. <\/p>\n Warren Howell campaign via Facebook<\/p>\n Warren Howell, a Republican candidate for Harris County judge, speaks to someone at an event in March 2026.<\/p>\n During public comment portions of Harris County Commissioners Court meetings, Howell has spoken against various county initiatives. He voiced opposition to a comprehensive labor consultation policy<\/a> passed by commissioners this year, which paved a way for county workers to advocate for higher wages and improved working conditions. <\/p>\n Also on the ballot<\/p>\n Next week\u2019s runoff election will draw more Republicans to the polls for high-profile statewide races<\/a> \u2014 including a Senate primary runoff between U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who received an endorsement from President Donald Trump<\/a> on Tuesday. <\/p>\n \u201cThe most likely scenario for November right now is that Democrats sweep every county-wide position,\u201d Jones said. \u201cAlthough, there\u2019s always the possibility that a very damaged candidate like Carla Wyatt for treasurer could lose, just given the myriad of issues she has.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones said that would require Republicans to spend a considerable amount of money supporting the GOP nominee, Marc Cowart. <\/p>\n Wyatt was arrested in Galveston County this month for allegedly driving while intoxicated<\/a>. It came weeks after a grand jury declined to indict her on another criminal charge of allegedly breaking into another person\u2019s vehicle in a restaurant parking lot with intent to commit theft. Commissioners also voted early this year to prioritize dissolving the county treasurer\u2019s office<\/a> in the next state legislative session.<\/p>\n The Harris County treasurer position is not on the May 26 runoff ballots as Cowart won the GOP primary in March and Wyatt was uncontested in the Democratic primary. <\/p>\n Harris County voters will select a Democratic nominee for district clerk after two of the eight candidates in March advanced to the runoff.<\/p>\n Darrell Jordan Jr., who served as a county court-at-law judge for eight years, received just over 19% of the vote, while 23-year-old educator Jose “Alex” Maldonado received 18.9%. <\/p>\n![\"Annise](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Image-7-1000x682.jpg\")
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Darrell Jordan (left) and Jose \u201cAlex\u201d Maldonado (right) will face off in a May 2026 primary runoff race for Harris County District Clerk.<\/p>\n