Jim Wright ran for the Texas Railroad Commission six years ago as a reformer. But his reforms have angered powerful oil tycoons, who are now trying to unseat him from his position.
Wright supported the first overhaul of oilfield waste rules in 40 years by the Railroad Commission, the state’s oil and gas regulator. Some independent oil and gas companies criticized the rule changes adopted last year. One of those companies, CrownQuest, filed a lawsuit against the Railroad Commission challenging its legality.
Tim Dunn, the billionaire founder of Crown Quest, is known for targeting Texas Republicans he doesn’t consider conservative enough. He is currently backing far-right candidate Beau French, who is seeking to unseat Wright on the Railroad Commission.
French, a former leader of the Tarrant County Republican Party, announced his campaign in November 2025, saying he would fight “radical climate change ideology” and the industry’s “alien capture.” Important issues regulated by the Railroad Commission, such as flaring, injection wells, and waste pits, were not mentioned.
The Texas Freedom Foundation for Advancing Justice, a political action committee (PAC) backed by Dunn and fellow oil tycoon Farris Wilkes, gave cash to France in the final countdown to the March 3 primary. The PAC contributed $375,000 to French’s campaign, more than half of his total income.
There were five contestants in the Republican primary, and French finished less than half a point behind Wright. Both candidates will now head to a runoff election on May 26th.
Mr. French’s campaign shows that the Texas oil barons are paying close attention to policy debates within the committee. Mr. Wright also receives generous donations from oil field executives and industry interest groups. He has long been accused by watchdog groups of conflicts of interest as he continues to hold shares in oilfield companies while regulating the industry.
The winner of the runoff will face Democratic candidate John Rosenthal, a Houston state representative, who characterized the Republican race as a choice of “chaos and corruption.”
Beau French is the former chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party. Credit: Bo French Campaign
The French campaign and the Texas Freedom Fund did not respond to requests for comment.
“Commissioner Wright has always said he will act based on what he believes is in the long-term interests of Texans and the energy sector,” said his spokesman Aaron Kureishi. “That’s what he has done and will continue to do as long as he is president.”
Established in the 1890s, the Railroad Commission began regulating Texas’ oil industry in the early 1900s. The agency no longer regulates railroads and now oversees oil and gas drilling, gas operations, pipeline safety and open pit mining.
Texas is one of the few states to elect oil and gas regulators to staggered six-year terms. All major oil and gas producing states, such as New Mexico, Oklahoma, and North Dakota, have appointed oil and gas commissioners. All three seats on the Railroad Commission have been held by Republicans for decades.
As a candidate, Wright touted his integrity as the owner of several oilfield waste companies in South Texas and advocated for improved oilfield waste regulations. He upset incumbent Ryan Sitton in 2020. After taking office, he began updating outdated oilfield waste regulations that had not changed significantly since hydraulic fracturing revolutionized the industry.
The draft rules, published in 2024, received hundreds of public comments from oil companies, landowners, and industry groups. One of the harshest critics was Crown Quest, whose vice president Luke Dunn (son of founder Tim Dunn) submitted detailed public comments in October 2024.
“We do not believe this can be surgically repaired and will need to be rewritten and reevaluated,” he wrote. “The uncertainty and complexity of these rules alone can create a significant amount of backlog in activity.”
The draft regulations were revised rather than completely rewritten, and the final version was adopted on July 1, 2025.
For the first time, the rule requires drillers to register waste pits at drill sites, but does not require them to notify landowners of drill sites. Some argued that the rules did not go far enough and that Texas remained behind other states. Some say the rules will be onerous for small, independent businesses.
CrownQuest was dissatisfied with the final rule and filed a lawsuit against the Railroad Commission in September, arguing that the rulemaking was invalid. Crown Quest argued that the agency failed to provide justification in response to public comment and that the rulemaking should have been treated as a significant environmental regulation.
So far, the Railroad Commission has refuted the lawsuit’s claims. A date for the public hearing has not been set. Crown Quest attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Wright was seeking re-election. Railroad commissioners can raise money throughout their six-year terms, so Mr. Wright had built up a large campaign fund in the lead-up to the primary. Oil and gas executives Kelsey Warren of Energy Transfer, Autry Stevens of Endeavor Resources, and Vicki Holub of Occidental are among those who have contributed to his tenure.
Jim Wright is one of three elected officials who head the Texas Railroad Commission. Credit: Jim Wright of Texas
The incumbent candidate also received support from Gov. Greg Abbott and the Texas Oil and Gas Association PAC.
The Frenchman, who entered the race in November, had little time to catch up until the March primaries. But he benefited from his visibility among the far-right wing of the Texas Republican Party. French is best known for his inflammatory comments about Muslims and calls for the expulsion of Texas Democratic politicians and indigenous people. Last year, many Republican state leaders distanced themselves from French after he posted a poll on Twitter asking whether Muslims or Jews were a “greater threat to the United States.” French later deleted the post.
Since announcing his campaign, French has not softened his rhetoric, posting multiple times a day about birthright citizenship and deportation.
He raised his first $150,000 campaign contribution in December from the Texas Freedom Fund for Justice PAC. The PAC gave another $225,000 in the final month before the primary.
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The PAC was previously known as Defend Texas Liberty and is primarily funded by Tim Dunn and Wilks. Dunn and Wilkes have spent tens of millions of dollars supporting candidates and trying to shift state and national politics to the right in line with their conservative Christian vision.
In 2023, Occidental acquired Crown Rock, which owned wells operated by Crown Quest, for $10.8 billion. Tim Dunn’s profit was expected to be $2 billion, according to Bloomberg. Dunn was one of Trump’s biggest donors to his 2024 presidential campaign.
Without campaign finance reform, ultra-wealthy people like Dunn would be able to “get the government they want, not the government that ordinary Texans choose,” said Adrienne Shelley, Texas director of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.
“This one person is able to wield enormous power by using his vast wealth to buy the regulatory environment he desires and by giving significant weight to far-right Christian nationalist ideology on many other issues,” Shelley said. “Dan is just one of several fossil fuel kingpins who call Texas home and have no hesitation in using their nearly limitless resources to influence elections.”
Other Republican primary candidates included Hawk Dunlap, a well management expert who has documented pollution problems around the state, and Katherine Calvert, who previously ran as a Democrat.
Mr. Wright polled nearly 2 million votes, beating the Frenchman by just 6,000 votes. Mr. Wright did well in rural Texas, but French primarily polled in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan areas.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is currently running for Senate, headlined a campaign event for French on April 6 in Fort Worth.
French’s campaign decries so-called “diversity equity and inclusion” spending at the Railroad Commission, citing the state’s historically underutilized business programs. The Texas state auditor froze the program last year, and now only veteran-owned businesses can qualify. A spokeswoman for Mr. Wright said the Railroad Commission’s contracts are based on experience to get the best price for taxpayers.
Most social media feeds in France are still devoted to posts against halal meat and calls for the abolition of birthright citizenship. But there are some clues as to why he ran for the Railroad Commission.
“We must roll back the costly and unnecessary environmental regulations imposed on our industry last July,” French wrote on March 29, referring to oilfield waste reform championed by Wright.
A spokesperson for Mr Wright said: “Three of his four primary opponents said the reform did not go far enough, and one said it had gone ‘too far.” “Most Texans do not believe that the commission needs to wait until Moses returns from the desert before reviewing and updating the rulemaking.”
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Martha Puskowski
El Paso, Texas reporter
Martha Puskowski is based in El Paso and covers climate change and the environment in Texas. She previously served as an environmental reporter for the El Paso Times. She began her career as a freelance journalist in Mexico, working as a reporter for news organizations such as The Guardian and Yale E360. Martha holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Hampshire College and a master’s degree in journalism and Latin American studies from New York University. She is a former Fulbright Fellow in Mexico. Martha can be reached on Signal at psskow.33.
