Election 2024
Forty-four polling locations across Harris County are open this week for early voting. Six other sites were slated to be used but were damaged by last week’s storm.
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Grace Hatfield/Houston Public Media
As the Houston area continues to recover from last week's deadly storm, and hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses remain without electricity, early voting started Monday for the May 28 primary runoff elections.
Judicial seats and local representation in the Texas Legislature and United States Congress are among the races on the ballot for the runoff, with early voting running through Friday and voting hours scheduled from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. each day. A total of 50 polling places across Harris County were originally slated to be used during early voting, but six of those locations will not be used as they sustained infrastructure damage during last Thursday's storm and are either inaccessible or without power or running water, according to the Harris County Clerk's Office.
The polling locations that will not be used during early voting are BakerRipley Middle School, First Congregational Church, Hardy Street Senior Citizens Center, Lone Star College Victory Center, North Channel Branch Library and the Richard and Meg Weekley Community Center in Cypress. A list of the 44 voting centers that are open this week in Harris County can be found online.
The county clerk's office said its Election Technology Center and a building used for training also were damaged during the storm, which has led to at least eight deaths in the Houston area, according to authorities. The technology center came back online before the start of early voting Monday.
"Our hearts are with everyone affected by the storm," Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth said. "Although our office was also impacted, we have worked tirelessly around the clock to ensure that the May 28 primary runoff elections proceed as planned."
A total of nine races in Harris County were unsettled during the March 5 primaries, when fewer than 15% of the county's 2.6 million registered voters cast ballots. Seven of those races, in which no candidate earned more than 50% of the vote, were in the Democratic primary.
Those who voted in either the Democratic or Republican primary on March 5 must vote with that same party during the runoff. Those who did not vote March 5 can vote in either party's runoff.
The runoff winners will be their party's nominees for the November general election.
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For Democrats, the runoff ballots in Harris County will include up to seven races, including the latest battle between newly sworn-in state Sen. Molly Cook and state Rep. Jarvis Johnson. Cook beat Johnson in a May 4 special election to complete the 2024 portion of the term vacated by new Houston Mayor John Whitmire in Texas Senate District 15, after Johnson was the leading vote-getter in the March 5 primary.
Whoever wins the primary runoff will be considered the favorite in November's general election and will therefore have the inside track to serving in Senate District 15, which covers swaths of northwest, north, northeast and southwest Houston, for the next four years.
Johnson's ex-wife, Charlene Ward Johnson, is among the candidates vying to succeed him in Texas House District 139, which serves parts of northwest Houston. She is in a runoff with Angie Thibodeaux, who led the field of candidates on March 5.
The other statehouse runoff on the Democratic ballot is between state Rep. Shawn Thierry and Lauren Ashley Simmons in Texas House District 146, which serves parts of south and southwest Houston. Simmons was the leading vote-getter March 5, with Thierry having received blowback from fellow Democrats after voting alongside Republicans in support of legislation viewed as attacks on the LGBTQ+ community.
Democratic voters also will select a nominee for Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector as Annette Ramirez is competing against Desiree Broadnax after receiving more than 40% of the vote on March 5. Jerome Moore and Jerry Rodriguez are vying for the right to face Harris County Precinct 5 Constable Ted Heap, a Republican, in November's general election. And Harris County prosecutor Vivian King and public defender Gemayel "G" Haynes are in a runoff for the Democratic nomination for 486th Criminal District Judge, a seat currently held by Republican Aaron Burdette.
Republican voters in Harris County have two Congressional elections on their runoff ballot. Kenneth Omoruyi and Caroline Kane are vying to win the party's nomination for the District 7 seat held by Democrat Lizzie Fletcher, while Christian V. Garcia and Alan Garza are competing for the right to face U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia of District 29 in November's general election.
East of Houston, Republican voters in Jasper, Jefferson and Orange counties will pick between Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan and challenger David Covey in a race that could have significant implications on state politics. Phelan trailed Covey by 3 percentage points on March 5 and is in danger of becoming the first Texas Speaker of the House to lose a primary since 1972.
