Bo French, ex-Tarrant GOP chair, headed to runoff in railroad commissioner race
Former Tarrant County GOP chair Bo French is headed to a runoff in the Republican primary for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, the agency that regulates Texas’ oil and gas industry, as of 1 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Jim Wright, the incumbent, has 31.92% of the vote to French’s 31.67% with 92% of the state’s polling locations reporting Wednesday morning. James Matlock had 19.54% of the vote.
The runoff is May 26.
Neither French nor Wright had made formal statements about the closeness of the race late Tuesday night.
Kristen Culbert, another Republican candidate, conceded the race in a Facebook post at around 10 p.m. Hawk Dunlap also conceded in a post on X.
“Although the results were not what we worked for, I want to thank all my supporters from throughout this election cycle,” Culbert wrote.
The winner will face state Democrat Rep. Jon Rosenthal of Houston, who was unopposed.
Established in 1891, the Texas Railroad Commission has jurisdiction over the nation’s hub for oil and gas production. In addition to regulating production, the commission also has jurisdiction over natural gas facilities, hydrogen pipelines, and coal and uranium surface mining.
French’s campaign is based on three principles described on his website. He wants to end diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the Railroad Commission, end “massive overregulation,” and stop an “Islamic invasion of Texas.”
French, who is also a private equity investor, was raised in Midland and comes from an oil family.
Jim Wright, the incumbent, is a fifth-generation rancher whose primary campaign priorities are reducing red tape for new oil production, plugging orphan wells, and defending landowner rights.
This story was originally published March 3, 2026 at 7:23 PM.
