Convenience Big Store: Day 4: The big 3 — oil and gas, education and the courts

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🗳️ Key election dates:

• Early voting period: Oct. 21 to Nov. 1
• Last day to request a mail ballot: Oct.25
• Election Day: Nov. 5

📋 Catch up quick with our voter guide.

Morning, Texas!

Buckle up — this is Day 4 of our elections course — and it's a doozy. We're Isaac Yu, a reporter with our Austin bureau, and courts reporter Nicole Hensley.

Yesterday, we covered the Texas Legislature. Today, we're looking at the other two branches of state government: the executive and the judicial. These people are often not widely known, but they wield an enormous amount of influence over our daily lives.

Wait, executive? You're right — we already elected our governor, Greg Abbott, to a third term back in 2022, with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick beside him. But there are seats up for grabs on two big executive agencies: the State Board of Education, which oversees K-12 schools, and the Railroad Commission, which does not regulate railroads (more on that later).

Judgemental: There are also elections for positions in our judicial branch, with three openings each on our state's top two courts: the Texas Supreme Court and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. There are also elections across some of our 15 intermediate courts.

These are races most of us probably haven't heard much about — so let's get back to basics and jump in.

Photo by: Ken Ellis

Oil and Gas

On the ballot this November is one of three seats on Texas' Railroad Commission. All three seats are elected by the entire state and are currently held by Republicans.

So… railroads? No. While the commission did regulate railways when it was founded in 1891, it has ceded those responsibilities and now oversees the oil and gas industry. With around 1,000 employees, the commission is now tasked with regulating oil and gas extraction as well as associated waste from the process. It also protects groundwater and has the power to fine companies.

The winter storm: The commission was accused of failing to adequately ensure that natural gas companies were protecting their facilities against winter weather during the Great Texas Freeze of 2021.

Digging deeper: Commissioners defended the industry, blaming renewable energy for unreliable production instead. Though some wind turbines did freeze in cold weather, natural gas power plants accounted for 58% of power generators that experienced an unplanned outage or failure, according to the federal energy regulator's report on the freeze.

Read more:

This year's most important election for Texas' economy and environment is for a seat on the Railroad Commission.

Republican:

Christi Craddick has served since 2012 and is seeking a third term, lasting six years. She is the daughter of longtime state Rep. Tom Craddick, a former Republican speaker of the Texas House, and the two invest in oil and gas leases throughout the state. Christi Craddick is currently the commission's chair.

Priorities: Craddick has been a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry. She has also decried federal efforts to regulate the industry, saying they dampen domestic energy production.

Democrat:

Katherine Culbert is a process safety engineer in the oil and gas industry from Houston.

Priorities: She has stressed greater accountability for energy companies, particularly on plugging abandoned wells. Culbert has also called for the commissioners to prohibit investments in companies affected by their regulations.

A cartoon drawing of an apple, a book and a pencil.

Photo by: Ken Ellis

Education

The State Board of Education (SBOE) helps set policy for Texas public schools. The board is currently composed of 10 Republicans and 5 Democrats. Seven seats are up for reelection this year. Not sure what SBOE district you live in? Find out here.

What exactly do they do? The 15 elected members, who are unpaid, write and review school curriculum standards, approve new charter schools and oversee an investment account shared by all public schools.

Why it matters: Beyond typical education policies, the board has become a battleground for a swath of social issues. In 2025, they will decide the future of Texas' social studies curriculum, a flashpoint for conservative activists who want to ban critical race theory from classrooms, though the theory is already banned under state law. This November, they will also vote on a new proposed curriculum that brings Bible teachings into K-5 language lessons.

Tacking to the right: Republicans have long held a conservative majority on the board. Still, conservative activists targeted board members for being too liberal and forced three Republicans into primary runoffs against even more conservative challengers earlier this year, with one of them losing.

The only race in the Houston area is for the seat of Democrat Stacy Childs, an attorney who was first elected in 2022. She has no Republican opponent.

Also on the ballot are two seats currently held by Democrats and four seats currently held by Republicans.

Moving on to the judicial branch…

Photo by: Ken Ellis

The Supreme Court of Texas

The Supreme Court of Texas is the highest authority on civil matters.

Recent rulings: this year, the court upheld a gun ban at the State Fair and Texas' abortion law, while pausing Harris County's guaranteed income program.

The nine justices, all Republicans, are elected by the entire state. Three justices are on the ballot this year and expected to win, though Democrats hope to harness backlash to rulings on abortion, LGBTQ+ rights and the border.

Place 2: Justice Jimmy Blacklock faces Democrat DeSean Jones, a district judge from Houston.
Place 4: Justice John Devine squeaked through this year's primary after being questioned over his judicial ethics. He faces Democrat Christine Vinh Weems, a district judge from Houston.
Place 6: Justice Jane Bland faces Democrat Bonnie Lee Goldstein, a Court of Appeals judge from Dallas.

✔️ Read the Houston Chronicle Editorial Board's Texas Supreme Court endorsements here.

Criminal Court of Appeals

The Criminal Court of Appeals is the highest authority on criminal matters, often dealing with appeals from inmates on death row.

Like the Supreme Court, all nine justices are Republican and elected statewide. This court, however, has seen much more action. All three justices up for reelection — Sharon Keller, Barbara Hervey, and Michelle Slaughter — lost their primaries earlier this year. They had been targeted by Attorney General Ken Paxton for restricting his power to prosecute election fraud.

Here are the new Republicans likely to take their places:

Chief Justice: Republican David Schenck, a former Court of Appeals judge from Dallas, will face Holly Taylor, a lawyer with the Travis County district attorney's office.
Place 7: Republican Gina Taylor, a Waco attorney, will face Democrat Nancy Mulder, a district judge from Dallas.
Place 8: Republican Lee Finley, a criminal lawyer, will face Chika Anyiam, a district judge from Dallas.

The Lower Courts

Various judges on the 15 intermediate appeals courts, as well as hundreds of district-level judges, are also up for reelection. These lower courts form the backbone of the legal system and handle all judicial matters before some cases eventually reach the two high courts.

Court of Appeals: Houston is covered by two circuit courts: the First and Fourteenth. After a case is decided in a district or county court, it can be appealed by the losing party to an appeals court. Each court has five places on the ballot, all currently held by Democrats. See our voter guide for more information.

Criminal District Court: Even more locally, Harris County will have four contested district criminal court races (in case you're wondering, there are 499 district courts total statewide). There are different kinds of courts to handle different matters, but district courts hear anything from felony cases to divorces settlements to election challenges. Any voter in Harris County can vote in these races.

177th: Judge Robert Johnson, a Democrat, has served in that court since 2017, when he oversaw the AG Ken Paxton securities fraud charges before recusing himself. Charges against conservative activist Steven Hotze are pending in his court. Emily DeToto, a criminal defense attorney, is challenging him as a Republican.
338th: Democrat Allison Mathis, a criminal defense lawyer, defeated sitting judge Ramona Franklin in the primary earlier this year. She faces Republican Michele Oncken, a Harris County prosecutor.
486th: Judge Aaron Burdette, a Republican and former Harris County prosecutor, was appointed by Abbott to this court, which was created last year to help handle Harris County's backlog of felony cases. He is being challenged by Democrat Vivian King, Harris County DA Kim Ogg's chief of staff.
487th: Judge Lori DeAngelo, a Republican, was also appointed by Abbott to this court to reduce the Harris County backlog. She is opposed by Democrat Stacy Allen Barrow.
487th: Judge Matthew Peneguy, a Republican and former federal prosecutor, was also appointed to the new court by Abbott last year. He is being challenged by Democrat Carvana Cloud, formerly a Harris County prosecutor and the deputy director of the Houston Police Department's Office of Community Affairs.

There is one more contested race in the County Criminal Court No. 16 between Republican contender Linda Garcia and Democrat Ashley Guice.

There are 11 Houston-area civil courts with contested bids in the November election. The judges in those courts handle litigation ranging from personal injury and wrongful death claims to discrimination and medical malpractice. Learn more about the courts and candidates here.

✔️ Read the Houston Chronicle Editorial Board's court endorsements here.

There's only one day of our course left. Tomorrow we'll turn our attention to the races you'll find at the top of your ballot, the ones that decide who we send to D.C.