Elizabeth Ames Jones (born October 29, 1956) is a former member of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abou ...

and the

Texas Railroad Commission The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC; also sometimes called the Texas Railroad Commission, TRC) is the state agency that regulates the oil and gas industry, gas utilities, pipeline safety, safety in the liquefied petroleum gas industry, and su ...

, the regulatory body over

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

and

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

. From 2000 to 2005, Jones held the District 121 seat from

Bexar County Bexar County ( or ; es, Béxar ) is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,009,324. Bexar County is included in the San Antonio–New Bra ...

in the Texas House. In the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

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held on March 14, 2000, she defeated incumbent Representative Bill Siebert, who had held the position since 1993. The tabulation was 8,053 votes (66.4 percent) to 4,082 (33.6 percent). At the time she unseated Siebert, Jones was a political unknown from the Alamo Heights section of

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

. Jones was re-elected to the state House in 2002 and 2004. In her second legislative term, she was elected vice chairman of the House Republican Caucus, the first woman in that leadership position. In January 2005, she stepped down from the legislature to accept an appointment from

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Rick Perry James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republica ...

to fill the vacancy on the Railroad Commission created by the resignation of Charles R. Matthews. Sworn into the office of railroad commissioner on March 2, 2005, Jones became the third woman to serve as chairman in the history of the commission. In 2006, Jones was elected to a full term on the Railroad Commission, having defeated the Democrat Dale Henry of

Lampasas Lampasas ( ) is a city in Lampasas County, Texas, United States. Its population was 7,291 at the 2020 census. It is the seat of Lampasas County. Lampasas is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood metropolitan statistical area. History ...

, but resigned eleven months before her term expired. In 2008, Jones announced in Bryan, Texas, that she would run for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

seat expected to be vacated by fellow Republican

Kay Bailey Hutchison Kay Bailey Hutchison (born Kathryn Ann Bailey; July 22, 1943) is an American attorney, television correspondent, politician, diplomat, and was the 22nd United States Permanent Representative to NATO from 2017 until 2021. A member of the Republi ...

. On November 7, 2011, however, Jones announced that she was ending her U.S. Senate campaign and instead would run for the

District 25 A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

seat in the

Texas State Senate The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per cons ...

against veteran Republican

Jeff Wentworth Earl Jeffrey Wentworth (born November 20, 1940), is a Republican former member of the Texas Senate from San Antonio. He represented District 25 in the upper legislative chamber from January 1997 to January 2013. In addition, from 1993 to 1997, h ...

in the Republican primary held on May 29, 2012. With approximately 31% of the vote, Jones finished third and was eliminated from the

runoff election The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

that was held on July 31, 2012.

References

External links

RRC Commissioner - Elizabeth Ames JonesElizabeth Ames Jones
Senate campaign website {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Elizabeth Ames 1956 births Living people Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives Members of the Railroad Commission of Texas People from San Antonio University of Texas at Austin alumni Women state legislators in Texas 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians