7 Harris County judge candidates raised just over $1M for March primary election campaigns

Running against Parker in the Democratic primary are former Houston City Council member Letitia Plummer and local entrepreneur Matt Salazar.

Zooming in

Among Lancton’s total of more than half a million dollars in contributions, donations over $10,000 came from local businesses, including the James W. Turner Construction company, Houston personal injury law firm The Pinkerton Law Firm, Recana Staffing Solutions and commercial development firm Americus Holdings.

Donations over $10,000 made outside of Houston for Lancton came from the Texas Economic Fund in Austin and the San Antonio firefighters' political action committee.

Large donations for Lancton’s campaign came in the fall. In September, campaign finance reports showed that Houston industrial developer company Clay Development & Construction Inc. made a $25,000 contribution. By November, national general contracting company Cotton Logistics also donated $20,000 to Lancton’s campaign.

For Parker, who drew in $416,272 in contributions, the donations totaling over $10,000 also came from several local business owners, consultants and political action committees, including petrochemical marketing company Texas Aromatics; Realm Properties LLC; Isani Consultants; Siegfried Engineering and Construction LLC; real estate agency Urban Meridian Group, RIDA Development Corp.; and civil engineering firm OTHON Inc.

Dutt brought in $42,500 in donations, including multiple $5,000 contributions from oil and gas companies and independent investors from Houston. Howell raised just under $4,500 from 16 resident contributions from Harris and Galveston counties.

No campaign finance reports were filed in January for Gonzalez and Zoes, according to the county election office.

Up for election

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo was elected in 2018, when she defeated then-incumbent Republican Ed Emmett, receiving 49.72% of the vote, as previously reported by Community Impact.

Hidalgo formally announced in September that she would not seek reelection for a third term as judge of Texas’ largest county. Hidalgo has served as county judge since 2019 and was reelected after winning the county seat during the November 2022 general election. Her current four-year term ends Dec. 31.

On the ballot

To learn more about the Harris County judge candidates, head to their questionnaires on Community Impact’s election website.

Democratic primary candidates: here.

Republican primary candidates: here.