Republicans are eyeing plenty of Democratic seats this upcoming election, including one held by a long-time district attorney in the Permian Basin. The catch? Finding the right GOP challenger was harder than one might expect out in rural West Texas.
But, in a recent article for the New York Times, J. David Goodman says that the newly minted Republican challenger isn’t typically what some might expect from the right: She’s gone after big oil, taking on companies like Chevron to court over environmental issues, she’s no big fan of Donald Trump and she knows how to leverage her TikTok notoriety.
Goodman spoke with Texas Standard on this race, and the possible shifting political landscape in West Texas. Listen to the interview above or read the transcript below.
This transcript has been edited lightly for clarity:
Texas Standard: I’ve been covering Texas politics for a while now, but this name certainly rings a bell. Where do I know that name, “Sarah Stogner,” from? Who is she?
J. David Goodman: Well that’s right. Folks who have followed Texas politics closely for the last few years might recognize Sarah Stogner as a former candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission.
So she ran in the Republican primary and actually made it to the runoff. She was challenging an incumbent, Wayne Christian, who’s been on the commission. And she made it into the runoff in a unique way that got her a lot of statewide attention.
She made a TikTok video as part of her campaign in which she was nearly nude on a pump track. And that video that sort of flashed images of her got, like I say, a lot of attention. And that was a goal for her and got her, she would admit, into the runoff, which she ultimately did lose, but kind of made her name across the state.
You write her entrance as a Republican challenger means, for the first time since 2008, there will be an actual contest for the top prosecutor job in a corner of Texas where fears about crime are often addressed by carrying a sidearm. Tell us about this district where the long standing DA is a Democrat.
So this is a district really right in the middle of the Permian Basin oil country. The biggest cities there are Pecos and Monahans. Loving County, the smallest county in the state by population. You have Reeves County and have Ward County.
And these three contiguous counties are represented by one DA, Randy Reynolds, who’s been in office now for years and really hasn’t faced a challenge except about 15 years ago after there was a statewide scandal related to a youth home, where there was the sense – and, actually, the reality – that he didn’t pursue charges aggressively.
That case was actually taken away from his office by then-Attorney General Greg Abbott. And so at that point, he was challenged by a Democrat in the Democratic primary. This is a sort of old school, conservative Democratic county position. And he wins that race and hasn’t really faced a challenge since.
Now, part of the reason why that is, is that you have to be a lawyer to challenge a district attorney. And in this part of Texas, there’s only actually 16 practicing lawyers, including the current incumbent. And so that makes finding a challenger much more difficult.
Very interesting. Well, I understand that Republicans had a hard time trying to find someone willing to run in this race. Why was that? And what made Stogner decide to throw her hat into the ring?
That’s right. Well, like I say, there’s not that many choices. So the Republicans were looking for a challenger here, did call a bunch of the practicing attorneys in this district. And, you know, this one sort of said, “no, thank you. I have a nice job.”
And they called Sarah Stogner, who is a practicing attorney in this district. And she initially said “no” as well, because really, her main focus has been, since she moved to this area of the state, on these abandoned and orphaned oil wells and trying to get oil companies and the Texas Railroad Commission to do something about those that are leaking uncontrollably. She’s sort of been very aggressive and very passionate about that issue.
And she initially said, “well, that doesn’t really kind of overlap with the district attorney’s office.” You know, more than that, she’s actually never prosecuted a criminal case or haven’t handle the criminal case on the defense side. And she’s very upfront about that. She has no real experience here.
But she also feels that she does have a lot of experience as a lawyer and taking on big challenges and felt like she could do a better job than the incumbent, despite not having that direct criminal experience. And so she ultimately was convinced by the Republicans who came to her.
And, you know, the other thing that makes her interesting is that she’s not exactly a typical Republican. And I asked her about that. She admitted that she doesn’t like Donald Trump. She doesn’t even really identify with the party. She sees herself more as kind of a libertarian, a small government conservative.
But she was willing to take on that mantle because she felt like it actually was important for someone to be a more aggressive prosecutor in this part of the state. And so that’s kind of what convinced her.
