Mark Henry will keep running Galveston County for another four years after defeating Democratic challenger Albert Al Smith in Tuesday's county judge election, securing a fifth term in office. Unofficial results show the Republican incumbent took 57.18% of the vote to Smith's 42.82%, a roughly 14-point margin in the race for one of the county's most powerful elected posts.
The win extends a tenure that began in 2010, when Henry was first elected Galveston County judge, according to FOX 26 Houston. Henry carried that early momentum into Election Day: unofficial early-voting returns compiled by Houston Public Media showed him with 56.6% of the early vote to Smith's 43.4%, a gap that held steady through the final tally.
Two Very Different Campaign Pitches
Henry's campaign centered on lowering taxes, increasing law enforcement and reducing the size of government, the same report notes. He has pointed to an almost 50% cut in the county's property tax rate over his 15 years as county judge as a central piece of his record in office. His broader priorities for a fifth term also included public safety, emergency management and improving infrastructure.
Smith, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, campaigned on a different set of priorities. His materials emphasized ensuring county resources reach historically underserved neighborhoods, improving access to essential services for all residents, and increasing the availability of quality housing, according to the same account. Henry, by contrast, faced a contested Republican primary against challenger Chris Kinard before advancing to Tuesday's general election.
A Long Run in County Government
Henry is now positioned to lead Galveston County for another four years, having already built one of the longer tenures among recent county judges. Galveston County's own website describes him as the 28th county judge in the county's history, which it traces to 1838, and says he is only the fifth to hold the office since World War II, per galvestoncountytx.gov.
The results reported Monday remain unofficial, and no certified final vote totals have been released. Both the county judge's race results and the candidates' campaign platforms were drawn from county election returns, candidate-supplied information and campaign materials cited in local reporting on the contest.
