David J. Porter

David Jerome Porter (born April 21, 1956) is an American politician and accountant who served as a member of the Texas Railroad Commission from 2011 to 2017. Formerly in a private CPA practice in Midland, Porter since relocated to Giddings.

Porter did not seek re-election to a second six-year term in the Republican primary election which took place on March 1, 2016.

Background Porter is a native of Fort Lewis, Washington, located near Olympia, where his parents resided while his father was in the United States Army. He graduated with honors in 1977 from the Church of Christ-affiliated Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. He and his wife, the former Cheryl Jenkins, a dietitian, resided in Midland for more than twenty-five years prior to their relocation to Giddings, where in 2004 they had purchased rural property. Their daughter, Jennifer P. Brown, and her husband, Ryan, have three children.

Porter passed the CPA exam on his first attempt in November 1977. He became a Texas CPA in 1981, the same year that he moved to Midland. His CPA practice is concentrated on accounting and tax services to petroleum and natural gas producers, royalty owners, oil field service companies, and other small businesses and individuals. He has also assisted numerous Republican candidates and conservative organizations comply with campaign finance disclosure and tax compliance regulations.

Porter went on to comfortably win the general election held on November 2, 2010. He garnered 2,875,744 votes (59.4 percent) to 1,753,625 (36.2 percent) for the Democrat Jeff Weems, a Louisiana native and an oil and gas lawyer from Houston. Another 138,707 votes (2.9 percent) were cast for Libertarian Roger Gary. The Green Party nominee, Art Browning, received the remaining 72,143 votes (1.5 percent).

In 2016 it was claimed that Porter received significant campaign contributions from several oil and gas companies that the Railroad Commission regulates. From 2011 to 2014, he was a member of the Interstate Mining Compact Commission. When he joined the commission in 2011, Porter created a task force to establish a dialogue regarding drilling in the Eagle Ford Shale fields of South Texas. In 2013, Porter established the Texas Natural Gas Initiative. He was named "Man of the Year" by The Oil & Gas Year. He has been recognized by the Shale Oil & Gas Business Magazine and Unconventional Oil & Gas Magazine for his economic development policies.

Electoral history