CAIR-Texas, Howard Alumni and community partners are rethinking candidate access for voters who don’t typically attend political events
No driving across town after work. No searching for parking. No sitting through hours of candidates in races that may not even appear on your ballot.
CAIR-Texas — partnered with the Urban League and The Howard University Alumni Club of Houston (HUAC-Houston) — is rethinking the traditional candidate forum with “Meet Your Candidates: A VIRTUAL Candidate Open House,” a free, interactive engagement event on Thursday, Oct. 15. (Registration: bit.ly/novcandidates2026)
“We chose to do this together because our communities have much more in common than we sometimes realize,” said Imran Ghani, Director of CAIR-Houston. “There is strength in numbers, but there is also strength in knowing one another and our shared causes. Bringing our organizations and communities together around civic engagement creates an opportunity to build relationships, learn from each other and demonstrate what is possible when we participate together.”
“We keep asking people to become more civically engaged, but then we build civic engagement around people who are already engaged,” said Cris Wright, president of HUAC – Houston.
Instead of watching candidates from an audience, Harris County voters will enter The FAM Hows, an interactive virtual venue designed to create the comfort and connection of gathering in someone’s home. Visitors will move among conversations, listen, ask questions directly and move on whenever they choose.
“Somebody may not drive across town after work for an in-person forum. But they might click a link while cooking — or ordering — dinner to have a quick chat,” Wright said.
In 2013, Wright, a former journalist and community strategist, organized what was likely the first virtual candidate forum in Georgia and has continued producing online civic-engagement experiences since.
For the Oct. 15 experience, CAIR Texas is partnering with the Urban League of Texas, Houston Area Urban League, HUAC-Houston, CAIR Action, LULAC Council 60 and the Greater Houston Coalition of Justice.
The evening begins with a brief Civics 101, before, an organic mingle with candidates. Every candidate in Harris County races is invited, with no participation fees, fundraising requirements, endorsements or ideological screenings.
“People are busy. People are tired. And plenty of intelligent people will tell you, ‘I don’t do politics,’” Wright said. “Really, they don’t understand it, nor do they have the capacity to jump through hoops to gain understanding.”
MEET YOUR CANDIDATES: A VIRTUAL CANDIDATE OPEN HOUSE: Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026 | 6–8:30 p.m. CT | Online at The FAM Hows | Free and open to the public
MEDIA CONTACT: CAIR-Houston Director, Imran Ghani, [email protected], 713-922-5270; CAIR Texas Government Affairs and Legislative Manager, Sameeha Rizvi, [email protected], 512-893-1371; HUAC-Houston Corresponding Secretary, Chelsea Nichols, [email protected]