How Katherine Culbert Tried to Use My Platform Before Joining the GOP
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Railroad Commission of Texas
12 min read
The article centers on a candidate for this specific regulatory body. Most readers outside Texas don't know that despite its name, the Railroad Commission primarily regulates the oil and gas industry, making it one of the most powerful energy regulators in the United States with a controversial history of industry ties.
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Party switching in the United States
12 min read
The article discusses Katherine Culbert's switch from Democrat to Republican. This Wikipedia article provides historical context on famous party switchers, the various motivations behind such switches, and how the practice has shaped American political history from the Dixiecrats to modern examples.
While listening to this morning’s episode of Progress Texas, I was absolutely floored to learn that the former Democratic nominee for Texas Railroad Commission, Katherine Culbert, had switched parties, joined the MAGA cult, and is running for the Texas Railroad Commission as a Republican in 2026.
I thought, “That’s funny,” because I’ve been keeping these lists of EVERY DEMOCRAT who was running for office, and when I didn’t have her on my list, she emailed me. She wanted me to add her, her website, and all of her social media accounts. Which I gladly did, because I thought she was running as a Democrat, and I’m a team player.
What I haven’t been doing is adding websites and social media accounts of Republicans, because it’s a partisan newsletter, and I’m not on their team.
The email exchange:
So basically, she used my platform, a Democratic platform, to get her website and social media out in front of thousands of Texas Democrats, boost her visibility, and pad her follower counts a full month before the filing deadline, all while knowing she had no intention of running as a Democrat at all.
And let’s be clear. Switching from Democrat to Republican is not a decision you make on a whim. You don’t wake up one morning, pour your coffee, and say, “You know what? Forget everything I’ve ever said publicly, every donor I’ve taken money from, every volunteer who’s knocked doors for me. I think I’ll join the party of election deniers and book banners today.”
That’s not how campaigns work. That’s not how party switching works. And that’s definitely not how the Railroad Commission runs work. Come on, we’re talking about the most corrupt body with the most corrupt Republicans in Texas.
This was a plan. This was a rollout. This was a rebrand that began before she emailed me, and she used my work, my time, and my audience as a stepping stone on her way out the door.
It’s one thing to switch parties. People do it. Sometimes for genuine ideological reasons, sometimes for political survival, sometimes for ego, sometimes because they think voters won’t notice.
But it’s another thing entirely to ask a Democratic journalist to amplify your campaign under false pretenses so you can milk their audience and then turn around and run as a Republican.
I don’t know what Culbert’s internal justification was. Maybe she
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