The Texan: Texas Railroad Commission and House Energy Resources Committee Lock Horns
Sept. 16 — State Rep. Drew Darby had choice words for Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian at the recent committee hearing.
https://thetexan.news/issues/energy/texas-railroad-commission-and-house-energy-resources-committee-lock-horns/article_c14e54d5-54c0-4066-9494-745ebbb70776.html
Inside Climate News: Texas Oil and Gas Regulator Doubles Down and Defies State Legislature
Sept. 16 — After backlash to a new public comment policy, Commissioner Wayne Christian refused to attend a legislative hearing and cursed at a member of the public.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16092026/texas-oil-regulator-wayne-christian-defies-state-legislature/
Mother Jones: Bo French Wants Texas to Be the New Rhodesia. His Opponent Just Wants to Keep the Heat On.
Sept. 17 — In a bitter May runoff, Republicans instead nominated Bo French, an investor and former county GOP chair with only the vaguest glimmer of industry experience and a mostly irrelevant and racist political program that calls for deporting 100 million people, purging the nation of Muslims, and emulating a defunct apartheid state.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/09/bo-french-jon-rosenthal-texas-railroad-commission/
Texas Standard: Several Texas Republicans condemn Bo French’s racist posts calling Asian students at UT a ‘problem’
Sept. 14 — French, the Republican nominee for a statewide position regulating Texas’ oil and gas industry, posted a photo of University of Texas students, while decrying “foreigners” displacing Americans.
https://texasstandard.org/stories/bo-french-john-cornyn-republican-texas-railroad-commissioner-ut/
Politico: Texas GOP candidate stands by xenophobic comments following backlash
Sept. 14 —Bo French, a Texas Republican running for the state’s railroad commission, reemphasized his viral social media post about Asian American students at the University of Texas.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/09/14/bo-french-ut-football-students-01075214
Inside Climate News: Meet the Mechanical Engineer Running to Regulate the Texas Oil and Gas Industry
Sept. 11 — Rosenthal worked as a mechanical engineer in the oil and gas industry for 25 years. Following Donald Trump’s 2016 election, he ran for state representative and flipped a seat that had been held by Republicans for more than two decades. Rosenthal has served on the Energy Resources Committee throughout his nearly eight years in the Texas House.
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11092026/democrat-jon-rosenthal-runs-to-regulate-texas-oil-gas-industry/