Michael L. Williams 08- Texas Railroad Commissioner

Railroad Commissioners in Texas are elected to six-year terms with one Commissioner seeking election every two years. When a Commissioner is appointed by the Governor to fill an unexpired term, the appointee serves until the next General Election at which time the appointee may run for the remainder of the unexpired term. Michael L. Williams is seeking this office again. Mark Thompson of Hamilton is seeking the Democratic nomination for the post.

Presently Michael L. Williams is the Chairman of the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s oldest regulatory commission. In November 2000, the people of Texas elected him to complete an unexpired term. In November 2002, they re-elected him to a full six-year term expiring in 2008. He was initially appointed to the Commission by former Governor George W. Bush in December 1998 to fill a vacant seat. Williams served as Chairman of the Commission from September 1999 to September 2003. He is the first African American in Texas history to hold an executive statewide elected post.