Kelly Stone

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Kelly Stone

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

March 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

Texas State University

Graduate

University of Texas, Austin

Personal

Birthplace

Houston, Texas

Profession

Sex educator

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Personal YouTube

Kelly Stone (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Texas Railroad Commission. She lost in the Democratic primary on March 3, 2020.

Stone completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Stone earned her bachelor's degree from Texas State University in 2000 and her master's degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005. Stone's career experience includes working as a sex educator and comedian.

Elections

2020

See also: Texas Railroad Commissioner election, 2020

General election

General election for Texas Railroad Commission

James Wright defeated Chrysta Castañeda, Matt Sterett, and Katija Gruene in the general election for Texas Railroad Commission on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		James Wright (R)	53.0	5,831,263
		Chrysta Castañeda (D)	43.6	4,792,422
		Matt Sterett (L)	2.3	247,659
	Submit photo	Katija Gruene (G)	1.2	129,638

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,000,982
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Texas Railroad Commission

Chrysta Castañeda defeated Roberto Alonzo in the Democratic primary runoff for Texas Railroad Commission on July 14, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chrysta Castañeda	62.0	579,698
		Roberto Alonzo	38.0	355,053

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 934,751
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas Railroad Commission

Chrysta Castañeda and Roberto Alonzo advanced to a runoff. They defeated Kelly Stone and Mark Watson in the Democratic primary for Texas Railroad Commission on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chrysta Castañeda	33.8	598,638
✔		Roberto Alonzo	28.7	506,748
		Kelly Stone	21.7	383,453
		Mark Watson	15.8	279,911

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,768,750
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas Railroad Commission

James Wright defeated incumbent Ryan Sitton in the Republican primary for Texas Railroad Commission on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		James Wright	55.3	991,593
		Ryan Sitton	44.7	801,904

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,793,497
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Green convention

Green convention for Texas Railroad Commission

Katija Gruene advanced from the Green convention for Texas Railroad Commission on April 18, 2020.

		Candidate
✔	Submit photo	Katija Gruene (G)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for Texas Railroad Commission

Matt Sterett defeated Charlie Stevens in the Libertarian convention for Texas Railroad Commission on August 3, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Matt Sterett (L)
		Charlie Stevens (L)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Kelly Stone completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Stone's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Kelly Stone is a sex educator, comedian, single mother, river enthusiast, lecturer, and environmental activist, and so many other things. (Y'all, we know that women wear an infinite number of hats.) In the summer of 2019, she became the 8th woman to paddle a C1 canoe to the finish line of the Texas Water Safari, known as "The World's Toughest Canoe Race." She is currently running statewide to become a Texas Railroad Commissioner to help educate Texans about what the Railroad Commission does, advocating for an agency name change to reflect it's true function in oil and gas regulations. She's given a TEDx Talk, read her journal in Mortified, and performed in the Women in Comedy Festival, but she's still trying to figure out how to keep her boys from smearing Greek yogurt on the furniture.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Education--Most people don't know that the Texas Railroad Commission is the most powerful office they've probably never heard of. Helping raise awareness for people to know that the TRC is the statewide regulating body for oil, gas, and pipelines is paramount to understanding what's at stake for our environment and protecting our natural resources.
• Transparency--Advocating for a constitutional amendment, calling for a name-change to the Commission to more accurately reflect it's function will allow for a broader and more open discussion of the scope and focus of the TRC and bring a clearer understanding to lessen voter confusion.
• Inclusion--The TRC has had a unanimously Republican voice of 3 out of 3 commissioners for more than 20 years, and it's important that ALL Texans receive representation and a voice within this important statewide decision-making body. I'm a pro-choice, environmental activist, bisexual mother of two, and I promise to bring a new voice to the commission that represents the interests of real Texans and the environment and to not pander to the profit-margins of Big Oil like the commission has traditionally and historically done.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

In no particular order:

Environmental Policy
Education
Health Care (including mental health)
Reproductive Rights (which is health care)
Renewable Energies
Gun Safety
Food Security
Economic Equality
Campaign Finance Reform
Housing
Eminent Domain
Transportation
Technology
Immigrant Rights
Transparency
Criminal Justice Reform
Children's Bill of Rights

Accessibility

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Gosh...there are so many...Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Sanger, Abigail Adams, Jon Stewart, Tiny Fey, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Maya Angelou, Dana Scully, Madonna, Molly Ivins, Kate McKinnon, Marsha P. Johnson, Gina Davis, Paula Poundstone, Gloria Steinem, Offred

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

The Lorax

Brave New World
Fight Club
An Inconvenient Truth
Warrior Women
Wall-E
1984
Animal Farm
No Impact Man
Food Stamped
The World is Flat
Sicko
Red Tent Society
You Can't Do That, Dan Moody!
Park Ave: Money, Power, and the American Dream

Dirty Dancing

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Determined

Loud
Smart
Creative
Funny
Friendly
Communicator
Writer
Hard-working
Scrappy

Problem-Solver

What legacy would you like to leave?

I'd like this to be the time becomes known as WHEN WE TURNED IT ALL AROUND. We took action to combat climate change, and collectively, we rose up and took back our government. I want to inspire more "regular" people to run for office and have their voices (After all, the government is supposed to be OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people.) I also have a strong desire to leave a sustainable planet for the generations that exist well beyond my children's lives.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I know it was the Challenger explosion, but it's foggy to me if it was first or second grade. I know I can look it up and do the math to confirm when, but that was a weird time for me as a kid because my mom left my dad which sent us moving around quite a bit. I was in a lot of different elementary schools, so it's a very swiss cheese time of my memory. However, I remember that it was a really big deal that the first teacher was going into space, and all the teachers were so excited. They wheeled the TV cart into the room, and we watched it live. I remember not really understanding that it exploded and killed the people on board, and I watched the teachers gasping and crying and running in and out of the classroom. I was very confused about the whole thing.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I got my first job when I was 12 years old. Well, technically, my first job was when I was 9, and I babysat an infant that the parents had given coffee in a bottle right before they left the baby with me. It was several hours, and they only paid me $5 at the end. I never babysat ever again.

Then, when I was 12, I worked for the summer at a gymnastics camp for younger children. I got paid in cash, and each time, my boss would change up the denominations to make it fun.

At 15, I got an "official" job at Steak and Ale where I worked as a hostess, and after my first month, I received a raise from $2.12 per hour to $3.00 per hour. I remember vividly one night at work when I stood at the hostess stand on a slow night. I watched on the TV in the bar as the OJ Simpson car chase was live. That Steak and Ale no longer exists today.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Brave New World. Did you know that Aldous Huxley wrote it in 1931? It still blows my mind. And did you know that, on his death bed, he wanted a lethal dose of LSD? Interesting guy for sure. Many of the things he predicted have actually come to fruition! This book had a significant impact on me during my youth and opened my mind to the possibility that *maybe* we can learn a thing or two from "the savages" and respect and appreciate nature. If you haven't read it, you really should.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Prolly either She-Ra or Moana

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

You say you want a revolution

Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right
You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can
But if you want money for people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right
You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right

All right, all right

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Poverty. Plain and simple. It's virtually impossible in America to find oneself upwardly mobile.

What responsibilities of this office do you personally consider the most important?

Protecting the environment, specifically the water, air, plants, animals, and the health and welfare of human beings.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

ALL OF THEM!!!

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

Listening. It's an extremely important skill. Listening to the people of Texas and representing those people, rather than representing the interests of corporations, would absolutely be the most helpful skill for a holder of this office to possess. The expertise would lie in changing the debate and establishing coalition to bring those voices to be heard into a majority that has historically under-served our people in the interest of profit.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Stone requested on November 4, 2019, that Ballotpedia replace her third answer to the question "Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?" In her October 27 submission, Stone answered "Diversity--The TRC has had a unanimously Republican voice of 3 out of 3 for more than 20 years, and it's important that ALL Texans receive representation and a voice within this important statewide decision-making body."

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