Tag Archives: Railroad Commission

TSU poll: Talarico 47, Paxton 45

That’s the headline, but this is the bulk of the story. Fewer than one in 10 Black voters in Texas say they are less likely to vote in November’s midterm elections due to U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s defeat in the … Continue reading

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July 2026 campaign finance reports: Statewide candidates

It’s July of an election year – which is to say, it’s July – so you know what that means: Campaign finance reports! You can just feel the excitement in the air, can’t you? I’m going to do a thorough … Continue reading

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Do the people who deal with the Railroad Commission care who’s on it?

History suggests the answer is no, not really. But maybe this time will be different. There’s gotta be a line somewhere. Right? After a Republican primary that focused on fighting Sharia law and diversity policies, the general election for a … Continue reading

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Of course they’ve lined up behind Bo French

What did you expect? Gov. Greg Abbott said Bo French would “wreck” Texas oil and gas production as he urged voters to support Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright. Wright’s fellow commissioners, Christi Craddick and Wayne Christian, also endorsed Wright over the hardline French, who … Continue reading

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Primary runoff results: Statewide

This was a total anti-climax. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated veteran U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP runoff Tuesday, toppling the four-term incumbent in a fierce duel that centered on who was more loyal to President Donald Trump. … Continue reading

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The rain reprieve

You’re welcome, Corpus. A projection for when Corpus Christi expects to reach a water crisis was pushed back by three months after a wet April brought enough rain to delay an emergency but too little to quench a brutal drought. … Continue reading

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New UH/Hobby poll has Paxton beating Cornyn in the Senate runoff

As long as they keep beating each other up, it’s all good. Attorney General Ken Paxton leads Sen. John Cornyn by three percentage points in a new poll of Texas’ U.S. Senate Republican runoff, suggesting the May 26 contest will … Continue reading

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Deadline Day roundup, part 2

Part 1 is here. So far I haven’t found much that wasn’t known at deadline time. It’s an odd year for there to be so few true last-minute surprises, but here we are. A few items to note: – There’s … Continue reading

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Rep. Rosenthal to run for RRC

A bit of a surprise, at least to me. 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 … Continue reading

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RRC finds no fault in that Energy Transfer Pipeline explosion

What’s a giant fireball among friends, am I right? An investigation by Texas regulators into the massive pipeline explosion in Deer Park last fall has found no safety violations by the pipeline’s operator Energy Transfer Company – a determination drawing … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis 2024: Railroad Commissioner

PREVIOUSLY: President Senate Dist Craddick Culbert Lib Grn ========================================= CD02 99,112 65,117 3,921 3,996 CD07 66,167 95,853 3,751 5,025 CD08 71,653 66,412 3,176 5,058 CD09 31,772 90,778 2,260 4,700 CD18 61,743 139,540 5,594 8,483 CD22 16,983 10,714 706 758 CD29 … Continue reading

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Republicans performed more or less at 2020 levels in Harris County

Obviously, the Republicans did well in Harris County this year, better than I expected for sure. They won some judicial races – they’re probably kicking themselves for not contesting more of them – and in general came a lot closer … Continue reading

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Interview with Katherine Culbert

Every two years we have an election for Railroad Commissioner, which means that every two years we get a batch of articles explaining how the Railroad Commission has nothing to do with railroads or trains. It’s about energy and regulating … Continue reading

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July 2024 campaign finance reports – State offices

PREVIOUSLY: Senate and Congress For the first time in awhile that I can remember, there’s not really a state or statewide legislative race generating much interest in Harris County. The candidates and incumbents for the Court of Appeals benches have … Continue reading

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Endorsement watch: Really? That guy?

For some reason, the Chron endorses Rep. Harold Dutton in HD142. As a graduate of Fifth Ward’s storied Wheatley High School, Rep. Harold Dutton has never equivocated on his legislation that enabled the state takeover, or “giveaway,” as Dutton calls … Continue reading

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Sarah Stogner to run for RRC again

But not as a Republican. This could be interesting. Sarah Stogner announced Saturday at The Texas Tribune Festival that she is mounting her second campaign for the Texas Railroad Commission — this time, leaving the Republican Party to run as … Continue reading

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Nobody knows the state of the gas supply in Texas

That can be a problem during freezes. You know, like the one we had over Christmas. As questions continue to swirl about widespread outages Atmos Energy customers experienced in North Texas and beyond last week, the opacity of Texas’ sprawling … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis: County executive offices

PREVIOUSLY Beto versus Abbott Beto versus the spread Hidalgo versus Mealer Better statewide races Not as good statewide races County races appear towards the bottom of the ballot, after all of the federal and state races. With the exception of … Continue reading

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Precinct analysis: The not-as-good statewide races

PREVIOUSLY Beto versus Abbott Beto versus the spread Hidalgo versus Mealer Better statewide races The difference between these statewide races and the ones we have already looked at, including the Governor’s race, is very simple: These Republican candidates did better … Continue reading

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Endorsement watch: Dudding and Warford

The Chron endorses Janet Dudding for Comptroller. In 2005, Janet Dudding found herself mucking out her home in Bay St. Louis-Waveland, Mississippi, after Hurricane Katrina sent a 32-foot storm surge across the town. “The first time I cried was when … Continue reading

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Interview with Luke Warford

The Texas Railroad Commission is that office where you always have to explain to normal people that it has nothing to do with its name. No trains, just energy, especially oil and gas leasing and inspections and other things. Including … Continue reading

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Hispanic Policy Foundation: Abbott 51, Beto 44

One more poll to look at. There’s an old adage that says the more things change, the more they stay the same. And according to our new poll, that applies to politics in Texas as well, as support for Republicans … Continue reading

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Endorsement watch: Stogner for Warford

Nice. Sarah Stogner, the former Republican candidate for railroad commissioner who forced incumbent Wayne Christian to a runoff and made waves for riding a pumpjack almost naked in a memorable campaign ad, is backing the Democratic nominee for the seat. … Continue reading

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Data For Progress: Christian 44, Warford 40 (RRC)

From the inbox: The race for Texas Railroad Commission is up for grabs this November, with voters looking for change and Democratic nominee Luke Warford in a statistical tie with incumbent Wayne Christian. A new poll from Data for Progress shows Democratic … Continue reading

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July 2022 campaign finance reports: State races

I don’t often follow the campaign finance reports in state races, mostly because they’re usually not that interesting and there’s too many races to look at if I was interested. I didn’t review these in January for the contested primaries, … Continue reading

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The West Texas earthquake problem

We’re number one! Earthquakes were never anything people in West Texas thought much about. Years would pass in between tremors that anybody felt. Even after the shale revolution arrived in force a decade ago and oil crews started drilling frantically in the region’s … Continue reading

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Runoff results: Around the state

After the primary, I rounded up the Democratic runoffs we’d have in May. I’m going to use that post to round up the results from last night, as best as I can tell as of when I gave up the … Continue reading

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A roundup of runoffs

I was going to just do a basic recap of all the primary races that will require runoffs, and then this happened, and I had to do some redesign. U.S. Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, has decided to end his reelection … Continue reading

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2022 primary results: Statewide

That didn’t take long: . JUST IN: Beto O’Rourke wins Texas Democratic primary for governor, @NBCNews projects. http://nbcnews.to/36VOfa3 — NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) 8:01 PM – 1 March 2022 Literally one minute after polls would have closed in El Paso. You … Continue reading

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“The Dead Sea of West Texas”

Not a vacation spot. About twenty-five miles north of Fort Stockton sits what looks, at first blush, like an oasis amid the West Texas desert. When I recently visited what might be Texas’s newest sizable body of water, its color … Continue reading

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A handful of stories about statewide primaries

Let’s talk about Sarah. One November evening in far West Texas, Sarah Stogner decided to strip down to pasties and her underwear, plus boots and a cowboy hat, and climb onto an oil pumpjack while a small film crew watched. … Continue reading

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In case you’d forgotten, we still haven’t fixed the power grid

It has other problems too, which we also haven’t addressed. Millions of Texans lost power in February 2021. Hundreds died as a result. Tens of billions of dollars in damages were lost. Billions were just transferred from consumers by government … Continue reading

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Who’s worried about electricity in Texas?

The guy who writes The Watchdog for the DMN, for one. The people with real power in this state, not so much. I was lonely. For more than a decade, it was as if I were the only North Texas … Continue reading

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Former Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton sues a blogger

Obviously, a story like this is going to attract my attention. A former Texas oil and gas regulator has accused a blogger of helping derail his 2020 reelection campaign by falsely claiming he had an extramarital affair. In a lawsuit filed last month … Continue reading

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