Pro-business GOP candidate Wright holds strong lead
In a race that gained national attention, Republican James Wright was maintaining a strong lead over Democrat Chrysta Castañeda late Tuesday night in what was expected to be a tight contest for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission.
With 90 percent of the state’s 254 counties reporting results late Tuesday, Wright held a nearly 10-point lead over Castañeda.
Despite its name, the threemember commission — the state’s oldest regulatory agency— oversees the state’s oil and gas industry. Commissioners run statewide campaigns and serve sixyear terms as full-time executives, earning $141,000 a year.
For decades, all have been Republicans. Yet Democrats had high hopes of breaking that grip. Wright, an oil and gas businessman and political newcomer who upset one-term incumbent Ryan Sitton in the March primary, was seen as a vulnerable candidate.
Last month, the billionaire Michael Bloomberg, a former New York mayor and Democratic presidential candidate, poured $2.6 million into Castañeda’s campaign. The Sierra Club also has contributed tens of thousands more to the Dallas-area lawyer and engineer.
Castañeda had positioned herself as an environmentally conscious candidate, promising to ride herd on the industry and rein in flaring and venting, in which producers release, or burn off cheap natural gas during supply gluts or when pipelines are at capacity. The practice, which contributes to atmospheric warming, has skyrocketed in Texas since the fracking boom.
By contrast, Wright campaigned as more of an industry ally, a strong pro-business candidate who promised to protect private property interests. His position paper on the petroleum industry’s challenges didn’t mention climate change.
He received large contributions from oil and gas interests regulated by the commission — a long tradition that has been criticized as skewing the regulatory agency’s decisions in favor of the industry.
Wright also has had run-ins with the agency. In 2017, he was fined $180,000 for permitting and environmental violations.