From 2000 to 2005, Jones held the District 121 seat from
Bexar County in the Texas House. In the
Republican primary 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. 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. 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, but resigned eleven months before her term expired. In 2008, Jones announced in
Bryan, Texas, that she would run for the
United States Senate seat expected to be vacated by fellow Republican
Kay Bailey Hutchison. On November 7, 2011, however, Jones announced that she was ending her U.S. Senate campaign and instead would run for the
District 25 seat in the
Texas State Senate against veteran Republican
Jeff Wentworth 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 that was held on July 31, 2012. ==References==