High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Michael Lawrence Williams (born May 31, 1953) is a former member of the elected Texas Railroad Commission, a regulatory body over, not railroads, but the oil and natural gas industries. Williams is the first African American to hold a statewide elected executive office in Texas history. He was appointed to the commission by Governor George W. Bush in 1999, and won elections in 2000, 2002 and 2008 to retain the office before eventually resigning in 2011. He is also the fourth African American to be elected to statewide office overall following Morris Overstreet, Wallace B. Jefferson, and Dale Wainwright. Williams is a candidate for the redrawn 25th Congressional district seat that stretches southward from Tarrant to Hays counties.