Democrat Rosenthal wins Texas Railroad Commission seat, beating controversial Republican French
Democrat Jon Rosenthal has won a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission in the United States. State representative Rosenthal beat two challengers, including the controversial Republican nominee Bo French, to win a place on the powerful state regulatory agency.
Rosenthal will join the three-member body, from which Democrats have been shut out for decades. The agency is charged with regulating Texas's multibillion-dollar oil and gas industry. It has had no railroad oversight since 2005.
The contest's policy debates were largely eclipsed by French's inflammatory rhetoric. French drew widespread national furore in September after targeting south Asian American students who were at a University of Texas football game.
In posts on X, French, the former Republican chair for Tarrant County, suggested their presence was evidence that foreigners were displacing Americans. Several prominent Texas Republicans, including Senator John Cornyn, denounced French.
That controversy was preceded by another in June 2025, when French drew rebuke after asking his X followers whether Jews or Muslims posed a greater threat to America. He later backpedalled in part, saying there was no place for antisemitism in the Republican Party and that the party respected the free exercise of religion.
On the campaign trail, French embraced right-wing culture war talking points, saying he would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) measures and curb the influence of 'radical Islam' and the Chinese Communist Party in the state's oil industry. French, whose family runs an oil company in west Texas, also advocated for looser industry regulation.
Rosenthal, meanwhile, ran on lowering utility rates, ensuring clean water and air, and putting resource guardrails around the construction of new datacentres. He cited his 25 years as an oil and gas engineer as a reason why he would be fit for the seat.
French easily won several counties in the Permian Basin, the heart of Texas's oil industry, according to the AP's election data. Rosenthal's largest voting blocs drew from Democratic-leaning urban areas.
'I am humbled and honored by the faith placed in me by the people of Texas, who have sent the message that the politics of hate and division do not win in the Lone Star State,' Rosenthal wrote on X on Tuesday evening. He also expressed gratitude to Republicans who 'chose competence versus chaos'.
Rosenthal will serve a six-year term on the commission.
