{"id":305936,"date":"2026-05-23T13:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T13:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/305936\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T13:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T13:39:14","slug":"meet-the-candidates-kprc-2-sits-down-with-all-four-harris-county-judge-runoff-candidates-ahead-of-election-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/305936\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Candidates: KPRC 2 sits down with all four Harris County judge runoff candidates ahead of Election Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">HOUSTON \u2013 With early voting coming to an end and Election Day just days away, voters across Harris County are preparing to make one of the biggest decisions on the ballot, the race for Harris County judge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">As part of KPRC 2\u2019s \u201cMeet the Candidates\u201d series, all week long, KPRC 2 sat down with each of the four runoff candidates, both Republican and Democratic, to discuss the issues impacting Harris County families.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">To ensure fairness, each candidate was given the same amount of time and asked the same set of questions focused on the county budget, flooding and infrastructure, affordability, and restoring public trust in local government.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic runoff: Annise Parker<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Former Mayor Annise Parker says she is leaning on her years of public service and executive leadership experience as she campaigns for Harris County judge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">During her interview with KPRC 2, Parker discussed how she would address Harris County\u2019s projected $129 million budget deficit while maintaining county services. She also shared her plans for improving infrastructure, addressing housing affordability, and increasing transparency in county government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Parker is facing former Houston City Council member Letitia Plummer in the Democratic runoff.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic runoff: Letitia Plummer<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Letitia Plummer sat down with KPRC 2 earlier this week to discuss her vision for Harris County if elected judge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Plummer spoke about economic concerns facing residents, including rising living costs and job opportunities, while also addressing flooding, infrastructure needs, and how she would work to build public confidence in county leadership.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">She also discussed her priorities for transparency and accountability during her first year in office. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">If elected, Plummer\u2019s win be a historic one as she would become the first black person ever elected Harris County Judge.<\/p>\n<p>Republican runoff: Orlando Sanchez<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Orlando Sanchez joined KPRC 2 to answer questions on the county\u2019s budget challenges, public infrastructure, economic concerns, and restoring trust in county government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Sanchez served as Harris County treasurer from 2007 to 2018 after making political history as the first Latino immigrant elected to a Houston citywide office.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Sanchez also outlined his approach to addressing flooding concerns and improving services for Harris County residents.<\/p>\n<p>Republican runoff: Warren Howell <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Warren Howell also sat down with KPRC 2 as part of the station\u2019s runoff election coverage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Howell is a lifelong Harris County resident, air force veteran, and president and owner of employer\u2019s risk insurance, where he helps businesses manage risk and operate responsibly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Howell spoke about how he plans to balance the county budget, manage growth and infrastructure demands, improve affordability for families, and increase transparency within county government operations.<\/p>\n<p>What voters need to know: <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Early voting ends Friday, and Election Day is Tuesday, May 26.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 With early voting coming to an end and Election Day just days away, voters across Harris&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305937,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[40305,56,58,57,110860],"class_list":["post-305936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-harris-county-judge","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-meet-the-candidate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}