There weren’t any real surprises in tonight’s Republican primary runoff for two of the seats on the Railroad Commission of Texas. That’s the state agency in charge of regulating the oil and gas industry in Texas.
Incumbent chair Barry Smitherman won another turn at his seat after beating challenger Greg Parker. In the runoff for the open seat on the commission, Christi Craddick won over State Representative Warren Chisum.
Craddick is the daughter of longtime state house figure Tom Craddick. His funds helped her win the race. Both winners of the commission seats enjoyed a wide margin in their victories. With eight percent of precincts counted, Smitherman had 62 percent of the vote to Parker’s 38 percent. And Craddick had 60 percent of the vote to Craddick’s 40.