Bo French wins Texas Railroad Commission GOP runoff

Conservative candidate Bo French has declared victory in the Republican primary runoff for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, though the race remained uncalled by election officials as of Wednesday morning. French leads incumbent commissioner Jim Wright by a narrow margin, with unofficial results showing French with 50.6 percent of the vote to Wright's 49.4 percent, according to tallies from the Associated Press.

The Texas Railroad Commission is a powerful three-member body that regulates the state's oil and gas industry, overseeing production, pipeline safety, and natural gas rates. The winner of the Republican nomination will face Democratic state representative Jon Rosenthal and Libertarian candidate Arthur DiBianca in the November general election.

French, a former chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party and owner of a family oil business, campaigned on a platform that extended beyond typical energy issues. He vowed to end diversity, equity, and inclusion practices within the commission and to expand a state law prohibiting land sales to citizens of adversarial nations to include Muslim-majority countries. French has stated he believes Islam poses a threat to...