The following year, Howell ran for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates (a part-time position) but failed to win election.

A supporter of civil rights for African Americans, Howell campaigned against massive resistance, was a major proponent of desegregation, and filed a successful lawsuit to abolish the state's poll tax.

One analyst attributed Holton's victory not only to attracting liberal and African-American votes but also because Howell's backers had "bolted the party to nail the coffin shut" on the Byrd Organization.

When the popular Lieutenant Governor J. Sargeant Reynolds died in 1971, Howell entered the race to fill the remaining two years of his term.

He staged rallies with the trappings of revival tent meetings – live music, cardboard buckets for campaign offerings, and the candidate himself calling on the faithful to 'witness' for his cause with their votes.

Howell was able to win in rural Appalachian Virginia and with African-American voters but failed due to lack of support in wealthy suburban areas.

[5] Virginia Democrats then moved from a primary election to a convention system, and Robb's political career continued, but Howell's ended.

[6][7] Although he failed to win Virginia's highest office, Howell put a definitive end to the rule of the conservative Byrd machine, helped consolidate gains of the Civil Rights Movement, and partnered with and mobilized newly enfranchised African-American voters.

He was much more progressive, less compromising, and more anti-Establishment than most of the so-called "New South" Democrats who emerged in the 1970s, such as Jimmy Carter, Reubin Askew, and Dale Bumpers.