Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones Will Seek Hutchison’s Senate Seat
By Vince Leibowitz on Aug 2, 2008 in 2010 Texas Elections ![[Post to Twitter]](/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter.png){kind=icon}
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Texas Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones will run for U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s seat in the United States Senate in 2010 if Hutchison vacates it to run for governor, according to Dallas Blog.
Ames Jones, an interior decorator and former member of the Texas House of Representatives appointed to the Texas Railroad Commission by Governor Perry in 2005 to fill the unexpired term of Charles Matthews, had previously hinted that she may have an interest in the race. The Dallas Blog post confirms she will run.
A native of posh San Antonio’s posh Alamo Heights, Ames Jones is the daughter of Gene Ames, Jr., a founding board member of the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council–a group her brother, Gene Ames, III, previously chaired.
Although Jones’ statewide name recognition is poor and she’s virtually unknown outside political circles, she has, in recent months, stepped up her profile and raised over a million dollars in campaign cash.
Aside from the fact that Jones presently holds a statewide office (albeit one that most Texans know nothing about) and the fact that she can tap into huge reserves of oil, gas, and petrochemical money from her perch on the Railroad Commission, she has few advantages other advantages over State Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-Plano), who has already formed an exploratory commission for the seat which may or may not be vacated by Hutchison. (We like how McBlogger handicaps the potential GOP primary between these two).
Jones posted very poor re-elect numbers in 2006, beating Democrat Dale Henry by a mere 54 percent. Though only a regional officeholder, Sen. Shapiro holds much greater name recognition than Ames Jones, as she is frequently a headliner as a result of her work on various major Senate committees. Ames Jones, although she served in the House since 2001, has no record of legislative achievements upon which to run and, as a regulatory commissioner, by definition makes few “friends” among the common people (unless you count lobbyists and energy companies among the “common people). Too, she can easily be saddled with a major portion of the responsibility for the destruction of Texas’ Health and Human Services programs and more, since she served on the Appropriations Committee in the Texas House in 2003.
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Jones is looking to raise her profile nationally with an op-ed in the Wall St Journal on Saturday: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121763386509806241.html
[...] Vince at Capitol Annex notes that Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones is going to run for U.S. Senate if and when Kay Bailey Hutchison vacates her seat to run for Governo…. [...]
[...] Vince at Capitol Annex notes that Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones is going to run for U.S. Senate if and when Kay Bailey Hutchison vacates her seat to run for Governo…. [...]
[...] Vince at Capitol Annex notes that Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones is going to run for U.S. Senate if and when Kay Bailey Hutchison vacates her seat to run for Governo…. [...]
[...] Vince at Capitol Annex notes that Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones is going to run for U.S. Senate if and when Kay Bailey Hutchison vacates her seat to run for Governo…. [...]
[...] Vince at Capitol Annex notes that Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones is going to run for U.S. Senate if and when Kay Bailey Hutchison vacates her seat to run for Governo…. [...]
[...] Vince at Capitol Annex notes that Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones is going to run for US Senate if and when Kay Bailey Hutchison vacates her seat to run for governor. [...]