A bit of a surprise, at least to me.
Rep. Jon Rosenthal
State Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, announced Monday that he is running for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission — the powerful agency that regulates the state’s oil and gas industry — rather than seeking reelection in next year’s midterms.
Rosenthal has served in the Legislature’s lower chamber since 2019 and is an oilfield mechanical engineer by trade. He said both those experiences uniquely qualify him to oversee Texas’ energy industry.
“I’m running for Texas Railroad Commissioner to bring accountability and common-sense solutions to an agency that desperately needs both,” Rosenthal said in a statement. “Texans deserve a commissioner who understands both the technical and policy sides of energy. That’s me.”
The commission is made up of three members who are elected to serve six-year terms, staggered so that one seat is on the ballot every two years. If Rosenthal emerges as the Democratic nominee, he would be in line to face Commission Chair Jim Wright, a Republican who has announced for reelection and will have to make it out of his own primary next year.
Rep. Rosenthal is a top-tier Good Guy – he’s good on policy, he’s good on being involved with GOTV efforts, and he’s just a good person. I haven’t spoken to him about this, so I don’t know if he decided there was a real chance to win this cycle, if he’d rather take a big leap than spend another session in the hell that the Lege has become, something else, or some combination. Whatever the reason, he’ll be an asset to the ticket and a massive upgrade over any of the current incumbents. As of the July finance report, he had $42K on hand, so he has some work to do there. I wish him all the best.