Christi Craddick wins reelection as top Texas oil and gas regulator

From KUT News:

Incumbent Christi Craddick has won reelection to the Railroad Commission of Texas, the three-member board that regulates the Texas oil and gas industry.

“I am humbled and profoundly thankful to Texas voters for again electing me to the Railroad Commission, one of the most important pillars of Texas’ ongoing economic success and America’s national security,” Craddick, who had secured 55.7% of the vote as of early Wednesday morning, wrote on the website X.

This is the third six-year term the Midland Republican will serve on the commission.

Craddick campaigned largely by pointing to the growth of the Texas fossil fuel industry during her tenure, and speaking against federal regulations to reduce emissions and fight climate change, which she said would damage that industry.

Her campaign stood in contrast to those of her three opponents, Democrat Katherine Culbert, Libertarian Hawk Dunlap and Green Party Candidate Eddie Espinoza, all of whom called for reform of an agency they said was firmly under control of the very industry it is meant to oversee.

Craddick and her father, state Rep. Tom Craddick, have been criticized for profiting greatly from the oil and gas companies over which they wield state authority.

Because it regulates the economically and politically powerful Texas fossil fuel industry, a seat on the Railroad Commission has been called one of the most consequential elected offices relating to energy, the economy and the environment.

But, because of the agency’s confusing name (an artifact of its early history), voters often have no idea what the Railroad Commission race is about.

In an unscientific survey of voters on Election Day morning, none understood the duties of the office.

“I don’t know anything about it. What’s ‘Railroad Commission?'” one voter told KUT.

“Do they do anything on the railroad? I don’t know!” said another.

The people who sit on the three-member Railroad Commission serve six-year terms and run in staggered elections, so there is always one commissioner up for reelection every two years, but never two at the same time.

Beyond overseeing oil and gas exploration and production, the commission regulates pipeline safety and gas utilities in Texas, among other things.

All Railroad commissioners have been Republicans since the mid-1990s.

Commissioners typically bestow the role of chair on whichever commissioner is running for reelection to help them burnish their credentials during a campaign (though not always).

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