Texas Railroad Commission race pits oil field engineer against energy trader running on culture wars
By Carlos Nogueras Ramos, The Texas Tribune
June 16, 2026
After a Republican primary that focused on fighting Sharia law and diversity policies, the general election for a seat on Texas’ oil and gas regulatory agency is shaping up as a partisan brawl with more talk of issues unrelated to its core functions.
Bo French, a scion of the Texas GOP’s hard-right flank, is now turning his attention to a November matchup with state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, after French ousted incumbent Jim Wright in last month’s runoff. Rosenthal, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary, is aiming to upset French and win a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission by touting his two decades of experience as an oil field engineer, betting he can win crossover support from voters turned off by French’s emphasis on the culture wars.
French, a longtime conservative activist who recently chaired the Tarrant County GOP, and whose family runs an oil business in Midland, has said in interviews with conservative media that he’s campaigning on social issues because they resonate with his supporters.
“I ran a campaign because I had to win a Republican primary,” he told right-wing podcaster Jack Posobiec on the heels of the runoff. “Talking about the Islamification of Texas, talking about DEI, talking about LGBTQ issues … I think my victory is a testament to the grassroots folks in Texas who are tired of electing people who aren’t fighting for them on any of these issues.”
The elected railroad commissioner will have limited say over such issues, though French argues otherwise, alleging the agency doles out too many contracts “based on DEI criteria rather than merit.” That is only a drop in the Railroad Commission’s $593 million budget the winner stands to inherit — the agency’s largest budget in its history — along with regulating Texas’ booming oil and gas production and a sea of wastewater that operators are scrambling to dispose of.
Next up: Facing Rosenthal
After securing the GOP nod, French wasted no time firing off his first waves of attacks against Rosenthal. On social media, he posted a selfie Rosenthal took on the House floor in 2021 wearing a face mask imprinted with the message, “Protect Trans Kids.”
“This is my opponent. Do you think he is going to make the oil and gas industry stronger or protect the Texas miracle?” French wrote. A few days later, he took aim at Rosenthal for a post promoting Pride Month, saying the Democratic lawmaker “never misses a chance to indoctrinate kids and celebrate degeneracy.”
Rosenthal said he’d ignore the politics. His longshot bid — Texas Democrats last won statewide in 1994 — hinges on showing his grasp of the agency, he said, and courting disaffected Republicans who want to hear about his plans for the state’s oil and gas industry.
“My philosophy from the very beginning has just been to run based on the issues, my background, and my technical expertise,” Rosenthal told The Texas Tribune. “To build coalitions around these specific issues that are for the Railroad Commission, and that the general public, whether they understand the Railroad Commission’s role in these things or not, they’re worried about our energy grid, they’re worried about our electric bills, they’re worried about pollution.”
Nancy Sims, a political scientist at the University of Houston, said partisan rhetoric is sure to clash with Rosenthal’s effort to keep the Railroad Commission in the spotlight, if not overshadow it altogether. The contentious social issues driving French’s campaign will only be amplified, Sims said, by races higher up the ballot that reliably wade into those same topics, making it even harder for Rosenthal to sell voters on the nuts and bolts of government.
“In this office, it would be great if Texans were paying attention to the issues the Railroad Commission deals with, like abandoned wells, contaminated water and the many issues that affect oil and gas production,” Sims said. “But that is probably not the No. 1 issue for Texans when they go vote this fall.”
Republicans shift from Wright to French
Meanwhile, Texas Republican leaders who supported Wright — and previously criticized French in harsh terms — are coalescing around their party’s new nominee as they look toward the fall elections.
French represents the most rightward flank of a party that has already moved dramatically to the right in recent years, sometimes leading to members of his own party to criticize him publicly. Earlier this year, French called for the U.S. to deport 100 million people, a number so large it would have to include American citizens.
French’s newfound supporters include Gov. Greg Abbott, who, while campaigning for Wright, said his runoff opponent “doesn’t know anything about oil and gas” and would “wreck the miracle” of Texas’ oil and gas production — comments Rosenthal has recirculated on social media. From his own campaign account, Abbott later congratulated French on his runoff win, saying Republicans would stay united to win in November.
French also reported having “a very nice call” and winning the support of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who previously called on French to step down as Tarrant County GOP chair after French posted a social media poll asking whether Jews or Muslims were a bigger threat to America.
Rosenthal, meanwhile, said he is sticking to the same plan he always envisioned for the general election.
“Whether we were going to go up against an incumbent we saw as corrupt and self-dealing, or against the chaos candidate, the ideologue … it didn’t matter too much. We were still going to run an issues-based campaign, and I still plan to do that,” Rosenthal said. “I personally wish for a world where government just goes back to being boring and doing their dang job.”
Complicating Rosenthal’s task is that most of the public is unfamiliar with the Railroad Commission, which has had nothing to do with railroads for over 20 years.
Still, he is charging ahead with plans to campaign on under-the-radar issues the Railroad Commission deals with, such as enforcing weatherization requirements — standards companies have to meet to ensure their gas facilities are equipped for extreme weather — and selling voters on the pitch that this will keep energy costs at bay for consumers. He’d also push to impose a new fee for saltwater disposals, the practice of injecting industry wastewater below the surface. That would fund plugging wells, of which there are at least 10,000 across the state. He’d also raise bonds and cash deposits for operators, which would also help fund plugging such wells.
French’s priorities
Beyond the culture wars, French, who did not respond to a request for comment, has pledged to cut regulations on oil and gas operators set by the Railroad Commission, whose three seats have been controlled by Republicans since 1995. He has also accused the agency of pushing environmentally friendly rules that are onerous to oil companies. And he contends that the agency gives out more than $1 million a year in contracts based on diversity, equity and inclusion criteria — a practice he wants to scrap.
More recently, French wrote an opinion piece for the conservative website Texas Scorecard arguing that a plan to expand electricity transmission infrastructure to West Texas could overburden the state’s ratepayers. Some of the state’s most influential oil and gas trade groups have pushed for years to advance the plan, urging the Legislature and regulators to green-light the massive project.
Jerry Bullard, director of the Reeves County Emergency Services District in oil-rich West Texas, said he hopes the Railroad Commission’s functions get their share of attention on the campaign trail. Reeves County has experienced earthquakes, fires and oil wells bursting with chemical slush, which pose environmental and safety risks for his community.
“If they want the West Texas vote, they’ll talk about water and plugging wells,” Bullard said. “That’s what people want to hear.”
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.