[2] After moving to Sugar Land, Texas, a fast-growing suburb of Houston at the time, Charlie Howard became involved in the Sugar Land community, at one time serving as President of the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, which is highly influential in Fort Bend County and also of which he is a life member.
Prior experience included serving as Executive Vice President and Operating Officer of Sugarland Properties, which developed the First Colony master-planned community that now comprises most of the southern and southeastern areas of both Sugar Land and State House District 26.
[1] Using this issue as the centerpiece of his campaign, Howard defeated Tallas with 71 percent of the vote in the primary, which was considered the real contest in the heavily Republican district, which has not elected a Democrat since 1978.
In 2006, Howard fended off a primary challenge, the first time such a scenario occurred in his political career, but faced no opposition in the general election.
In 2008, Howard easily won reelection over his two Republican primary opponents, educator Paula Stansell and student Norm Ley with 63% of the vote.