The September 20 print edition of the San Antonio Express-News has this editorial endorsement of Mark Miller, the Libertarian Party nominee for Railroad Commissioner. Railroad Commissioner is a statewide partisan elected office. As the editorial says, it has nothing to do with railroads; instead it regulates the oil and gas industry.
The Libertarian Party of Texas needs to poll 5% for at least one statewide race to remain ballot-qualified. This year, the Democrats are running a full slate for all statewide offices, for the first time since 2002. That makes it more difficult for the state’s two ballot-qualified minor parties to poll 5%. Normally it is easy for the Green Party and the Libertarian Party to get 5%; they merely file in the statewide races that lack a Democratic candidate.
Interestingly, Miller does not favor a change in the name of the Railroad Commission. The original function of the RRC was to regulate transport of oil by rail. It was later assigned the task of regulating oil and gas production to prevent early depletion of oil fields through overproduction, and also serve as a market regulator (an early precursor of OPEC).