Election for Oil Regulator Becomes Battleground for Wealthy Donors

Election for oil regulator becomes battleground for wealthy donors

By Carlos Nogueras Ramos, The Texas Tribune May 19, 2026 Historically, the Texas Railroad Commission has been an obscure agency in Austin that the public knows little about. Now, amid a contest for a high-ranking role on the agency’s three-panel board of commissioners, it has become a battleground for wealthy political donors. Billionaires, big oil companies and trade groups have poured a tremendous amount of wealth into the two primary campaign…

Texas Railroad Commissioner race funded by billionaires

In the GOP runoff for Texas Railroad commissioner, billionaires, big oil companies and trade groups flood the campaign pockets of candidates Jim Wright and Bo French.

Bo French’s Blood-and-Oil Bid for Railroad Commissioner

Former Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French is running what can fairly be called a fossil fascist campaign in his bid to unseat incumbent Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright in the May 26 runoffs. A victory for French would secure him the GOP nomination for a six-year term atop the agency that oversees, and is generally captured by, the state’s all-too-precious oil and gas industry. Wright and French essentially tied at 32 percent in a five-way Ma…