Christi Craddick

Christi Leigh Craddick (born July 1, 1970) is an American politician. She is one of three members of the Railroad Commission of Texas, the elected regulatory body over oil, natural gas, utilities, and surface mining first established in 1891. The commission ended all controls over railroads in 2005 but is still known as the "Railroad Commission" for historical reasons. She is a Republican.

A native of Midland, Texas, Craddick has served as Railroad Commissioner since 2012. After winning re-election for a third term in 2024, Craddick announced in March 2025 her decision to run for Texas Comptroller in the 2026 election. Craddick was ultimately unsuccessful, being defeated in the primary election by Don Huffines.

Background

Craddick's father is State Representative Tom Craddick, a Midland businessman who was the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009. Craddick has one daughter. She is Roman Catholic.

Craddick graduated from Midland High School, obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law.

Christi Craddick and her father have ownership interests in hundreds of oil and gas leases in the state, with a value of over $20 million. Craddick receives royalties of more than $2 million per year for brokering extraction lease sales, which are potential conflicts of interest as she regulates the state's oil industry. Craddick has voted on the Commission on several issues affecting companies in which she has a financial interest. Texas does not have a law against Railroad Commission members deriving money from regulated companies.

Craddick polled 589,211 votes (60 percent); Chisum, 396,858 ballots (40 percent).

2012 general election Craddick thereafter defeated the Democratic nominee, Dale P. Henry (born 1930), a retired petroleum engineer from Lampasas in Central Texas. Craddick polled 4,336,499 votes (56 percent); Henry, 3,057,733 (40 percent). The remaining 4 percent was cast for two minor-party candidates.

Craddick succeeded Elizabeth Ames Jones of San Antonio, who vacated the seat in February 2012. Jones ran for the District 25 seat in the Texas State Senate, which was ultimately won by the Republican physician Donna Campbell of New Braunfels, who unseated incumbent Senator Jeff Wentworth, a Moderate Republican from San Antonio, in the party runoff on July 31. Interim commissioner Buddy Garcia, an appointee of Governor Rick Perry, stepped down several weeks after the 2012 general election, and Perry named Craddick to complete the few days remaining in Jones's term.

Craddick's two Republican colleagues on the railroad commission were David J. Porter of Giddings in Lee County, formerly of Midland, and the former chairman, Barry Smitherman, formerly of Houston. Smitherman, elected to a two-year unexpired term in 2012, did not seek a full six-year term in 2014; he instead ran for Texas attorney general to succeed Greg Abbott, but came in third place in the Republican primary. Since 1995, when veteran Democratic member James E. Nugent was unseated by Charles R. Matthews, all railroad commissioners have been Republicans. Both Craddick and Porter have ties to the oil-rich Permian Basin of Midland/Odessa.

Former Midland Mayor Ernest Angelo, a one-time Texas Republican National Committeeman, said that Craddick succeeded because she gained credibility with large Republican donors and traveled by highway to meet with the conservative grassroots and women's groups. According to Angelo, Tom Craddick's neighbor of many years, Christi Craddick "showed she will do what it takes to win a state primary. She earned it."

In August 2014, she was elected chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission.

2018 reelection On March 16, 2018, Craddick with nearly 76 percent of the vote defeated her Republican primary opponent, Weston Martinez of San Antonio. She then defeated the Democrat Roman McAllen in the November 6 general election. Craddick polled 4,356,658 votes (53.2 percent) to McAllen's 3,588,625 ballots (43.9 percent). Another 236,720 votes (2.9 percent) went to the Libertarian Party nominee, Mike Wright.

2026 Comptroller bid

In March 2025, it was announced that incumbent Comptroller Glenn Hegar intended to resign in order to become chancellor of the Texas A&M University System. Craddick announced her intention to run for the seat in the 2026 election, along with former State Senator Don Huffines.

Hegar resigned in July, and was succeeded by Kelly Hancock, who announced his intention to run for a full term in the 2026 election, with the support of Hegar and Governor Greg Abbott. Hancock was a State Senator from District 9, but resigned to become chief clerk of the Comptroller's office.

Electoral history