Michael Williams, former Texas Railroad Commissioner, will officially announce his bid to succeed retiring Republican senator Kay Bailey Hutchison tomorrow at an event in Austin. Here's more about Williams from the Texas Tribune, who is sponsoring the event tomorrow where he's expected to make the announcement:

Williams has been elected to the commission three times, first in November 2000, to complete an unexpired term, and then in November 2002 and 2008, to full six-year terms. He was initially appointed to the commission by then-Gov. George W. Bush in December 1998 to fill a vacant seat. Williams served as chairman of the commission from September 1999 to September 2003 and again from July 2007 to February 2009. He is the first African-American in Texas history to hold an executive statewide elected post. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush appointed Williams as assistant secretary of education for civil rights in the U.S. Department of Education, a position previously held by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Bush had previously appointed Williams as deputy assistant secretary for law enforcement in the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he had policy oversight responsibility for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center; the U.S. Secret Service; the U.S. Customs Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Williams also served in the Department of Justice as special assistant to Attorney General Richard Thornburgh. Williams served as a prosecutor in the Department of Justice under President Ronald Reagan. In 1988, he was awarded the attorney general’s “Special Achievement Award” for the conviction of six Ku Klux Klan members on stolen military weapons charges. Early in his career, he served as an assistant district attorney in his hometown of Midland.

John McCormack profiled Williams in 2009 in THE WEEKLY STANDARD.