Democratic Rep. Jon Rosenthal will run for Texas Railroad Commission

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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.”

Rosenthal's departure from the House opens up his seat in northwest Houston. Odus Evbagharu, former chair of the Harris County Democratic Party and Rosenthal's former chief of staff, announced his campaign for the seat Tuesday, touting his experience at the Legislature, roots in the district and "a fresh vision rooted in opportunity and inclusion."

“This campaign is about lifting up the voices of our neighbors and building a Texas where no one is left behind,” Evbagharu, 33, said in a press release that noted he would be the youngest and first Black member to represent the district.

Evbagharu is the first candidate to file paperwork to run for the Democratic-leaning House District 135, which covers a swath of mostly unincorporated Harris County around the Cypress and Katy areas. Rosenthal endorsed his former top staffer for the seat, which Democrat Kamala Harris carried over Republican Donald Trump by about 8 percentage points in 2024.

Rosenthal, meanwhile, is giving up the seat for an uphill bid to break Democrats' three-decade winless streak in statewide races. The Railroad 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.

Wright’s colleague, Commissioner Christi Craddick, is one of three Republicans vying to be state comptroller in 2026. She would keep her seat on the commission if she loses that bid, having just been reelected to a six-year term in November.

The third member of the commission, Republican Wayne Christian, was reelected in 2022 and will be up for a new term in the 2028 cycle.

Formed in the 1890s, the commission no longer has anything to do with its original function of regulating Texas’ railroads. It now regulates oil and gas extraction and waste, pipelines, natural gas utilities and coal and uranium surface mining operations, with oversight over permits, fines and natural gas rates.

The commission’s members have long been criticized for maintaining close financial ties to the industry they regulate, with oil and gas executives regularly donating to their campaigns. Following the lead of past Democratic candidates, Rosenthal teased a campaign message focused on changing this dynamic, saying he would “make sure the Railroad Commission does its job for the people — not for high-dollar lobbyists and entrenched interests.”

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