Christi Craddick
Craddick in 2016
Railroad Commissioner of Texas
Incumbent
Assumed office December 12, 2012
Governor	Rick Perry Greg Abbott
Preceded by	Buddy Garcia
Personal details
Born	Christi Leigh Craddick (1970-07-01)July 1, 1970 (age 55) Midland,Texas, U.S.
Party	Republican
Children	1
Parent	Tom Craddick (father)
Education	University of Texas, Austin (BA,JD)

Christi Leigh Craddick (born July 1, 1970) is an American politician. She is one of three members of theRailroad 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.^[1] She is aRepublican.^[2]

A native ofMidland, 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 forTexas Comptroller in the2026 election.^[3]

Craddick's father isState RepresentativeTom Craddick, a Midland businessman who was theSpeaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009. Craddick has one daughter. She isRoman Catholic.^[4]

Craddick graduated fromMidland High School, obtained her undergraduate degree from theUniversity of Texas at Austin, and received herJuris Doctor from theUniversity of Texas School of Law.^[5]

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 sits regulates the state's oil industry.^[6] 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.^[6]

Craddick's path to victory surged in the Republicanrunoff election held on July 31, 2012, when she easily defeated then State RepresentativeWarren Chisum ofPampa inGray County in theTexas Panhandle. Chisum is a former state legislative lieutenant of Tom Craddick. In that same election, most of the attention had focused not on the Craddick-Chisum race but onconservativeTed Cruz, who defeatedLieutenant GovernorDavid Dewhurst for the Republican nomination to succeedU.S. SenatorKay Bailey Hutchison. Craddick raised triple the campaign contributions of Chisum, more than $1 million compared to $375,000, but Chisum had access to another $600,000 that he had accumulated earlier as a legislator. Craddick enjoyed the support of such wealthy donors as the entrepreneurJames R. Leininger ofSan Antonio and the late homebuilderBob J. Perry ofHouston.^[7]

Craddick polled 589,211 votes (60 percent); Chisum, 396,858 ballots (40 percent).^[8]

Craddick thereafter defeated theDemocratic nominee, Dale P. Henry (born 1930), a retiredpetroleum engineer fromLampasas inCentral Texas.^[9][10] 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.^[11]

Craddick succeededElizabeth Ames Jones of San Antonio, who vacated the seat in February 2012. Jones ran for theDistrict 25 seat in theTexas State Senate, which was ultimately won by the Republican physicianDonna Campbell ofNew Braunfels, who unseated incumbent SenatorJeff Wentworth, aModerate Republican from San Antonio, in the party runoff on July 31. Interim commissionerBuddy Garcia, an appointee ofGovernorRick Perry,^[12] stepped down several weeks after the 2012 general election, and Perry named Craddick to complete the few days remaining in Jones's term.^[13]

Craddick's two Republican colleagues on the railroad commission wereDavid J. Porter ofGiddings inLee 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 forTexas attorney general to succeedGreg Abbott, but came in third place in the Republican primary.^[14][15] Since 1995, when veteran Democratic memberJames E. Nugent was unseated byCharles R. Matthews, all railroad commissioners have been Republicans. Both Craddick and Porter have ties to the oil-richPermian Basin of Midland/Odessa.^[16]

Mark Jones, apolitical scientist atRice University, attributed Craddick's victory over Chisum to the "respect" within theGOP for her father.Tom Craddick is the longest-serving Republican legislator in Austin, having first been elected in 1968. He lost the Speakership in 2009 toJoe Straus, a moderate Republican from San Antonio, who initially prevailed through a coalition of mostly Democrats and sixteen maverick Republicans.^[16]

Former Midland Mayor Ernest Angelo, a one-timeTexas Republican National Committeeman, said that Craddick succeeded because she gained credibility with large Republican donors and traveled by highway to meet with theconservativegrassroots 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."^[16]

From the start of her term as commissioner, Craddick has been critical of federal intervention into the energy industries: "Texas knows how energy regulation is done. People ought to be modeling themselves after us, instead of ... theEPA," she told an energy policy group inAustin."^[17]

In August 2014, she was elected chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission.^[18]

On March 16, 2018, Craddick with nearly 76 percent of the vote defeated her Republican primary opponent, Weston Martinez ofSan Antonio.^[19] She then defeated the Democrat Roman McAllen in the November 6 general election.^[20] 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.^[21]

In March 2025, it was announced that incumbent ComptrollerGlenn Hegar intended to resign in order to become chancellor of theTexas A&M University System. Craddick announced her intention to run for the seat in the 2026 election, along with former State SenatorDon Huffines.^[3][22]

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.^[23] Hancock was a State Senator fromDistrict 9, but resigned to become chief clerk of the Comptroller's office.^[23]

• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1970 births
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• 21st-century American women politicians
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• Businesspeople from Texas
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• Members of the Railroad Commission of Texas
• Midland High School (Midland, Texas) alumni
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