By Melissa Koenig For Dailymail.Com

Published: 16:56 EDT, 22 February 2022 | Updated: 17:55 EDT, 22 February 2022

A West Texas woman running to be the state's railroad commissioner has turned heads after she posted a TikTok of herself topless and without pants while straddling an oil pumping jack.

Sarah Stogner, 37, tweeted out the controversial video, set to The Sugarhill Gang's Apache (Jump On It) song, on February 13, writing: 'They said I needed money. I have other assets.' 

The video - which has now been viewed more than 104,800 times - was apparently meant to garner attention for Stogner's campaign, as she trailed frontrunner Wayne Christian, the incumbent who currently has $766,256 on hand as voters head to the polls, according to Transparency USA, a website that tracks campaign funding.

But in the wake of the video, Stogner was ridiculed online - and even lost the endorsement of one of the state's major newspapers - while others praised her bravery and success at garnering attention.

Sarah Stogner, 37, posted a short TikTok video of her straddling an oil pumping jack on February 13 as a way to garner attention for her campaign for Texas Railroad Commissioner

She said it was filmed as a joke and she only decided to post it because she was trailing incumbent Wayne Christian in the polls

The video - which has now been viewed more than 104,800 times - was apparently meant to garner attention for Stogner's campaign

 Stogner was ridiculed online - and even lost the endorsement of one of the state's major newspapers 

Still, Stogner insists the video was meant as a joke

She said: 'They said I needed money. I have other assets'

After the video was posted on Twitter, one person commented: 'I'm confused. Are you running for political office, or auditioning to be a stripper,'  and another wrote: 'Sad. Some people like to display their qualifications, but if this is all you have...'

Another man then chimed in: 'When you have literally nothing to base your candidacy on, go with "stripper rides mechanical bull" said no one ever,' while another said: 'If you want to make money on Onlyfans, just do that. 

'This ad is just going to confuse people because people don’t tend to want to associate railroad commissioners with softcore porn.'  

The San Antonio Express-News editorial board even dropped its support of the candidate.

'We were disappointed to see a disgraceful TikTok video posted Sunday from Sarah Stogner, whom we recently recommended in the Republican primary for railroad commissioner,' the editorial board wrote. 'We rescind our recommendation.'

The editorial board instead endorsed Stogner's opponent, Dawayne Tipton, saying they would not have endorsed Stogner for the position, which oversees the state's oil and gas industry, if she had posted the video earlier.  

'This is an opportunity to reaffirm our principles and expectations,' the San Antonio Express-News board wrote. 'We expect candidates for public office to model civil discourse and decorum worthy of the public's trust. This was neither.

'Instead, it's an indictment of these times that a candidate, even a marginal one, would appeal to potential voters in such way via social media ... this was an embarrassing failure.' 

Others, though, expressed their support of Stogner's ad, with one man writing: 'Whatever you think of this ad, it's probably the most effective ad in politics. 

'There's probably a few million people who never heard of her that has now heard of her. Publicity is the most important thing in elections.'

Another asked how many times he could vote for her, and a third said: 'As a Texan, I believe that if one has the galls to pull this kind of stunt off, you deserve my vote.' 

And for his part, Tipton, who is now endorsed by all of the state's largest newspapers said he does not fault Stogner for the video.

'It was a Hail Mary to energize her campaign,' he said, according to the Houston Chronicle. 'It's not something that I would personally do or undertake.') 

Stogner said the criticism of the video felt 'very much like slut-shaming'

After she posted the video, people ridiculed her on Twitter while others praised her bravery and her ingenuity in creating the ad

Still, Stogner insists the video was meant as a joke.

She started her campaign last year when she found success posting TikToks about leaking oil wells near her West Texas home, garnering thousands of views on each video. With that success, the Chronicle reports, Stogner thought she could unseat the incumbent without the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to run a state campaign.

Stogner even hired a documentary crew to film her campaign, which shot the clip in November. She said she did not plan to release it, but as polls showed she was only a few points behind Christian, he decided it was worth the risk.

'I knew it would be controversial,' she said. 'I didn't realize it would incite the rage and anger that it did from the press.'

Stogner said she found out that the San Antonio Express-News was going to drop its endorsement after she posted the video.

She told Chron that editorial page editor Josh Brodesky contacted her on Facebook and asked her if she was hacked. 

Once she confirmed that she did, in fact, post the video, Brodesky informed her that the board would be rescinding its recommendation.

'Wow, OK. I wish you would wait and hear what I have to say before making the decision,' she said. 'We have radiation in our water, but me scantily clad is where the line is drawn.' 

'It feels very much like slut-shaming,' she said. 'We were just goofing off. We had the footage from last year, and I said "I'm going to make my own Super Bowl commercial.

'If I had gone off and shot machine guns and screamed about the border, they wouldn't have a problem with it.'

Stogner also took issue with the San Antonio Express-News vetting process, pointing out that she posted a picture of herself nude facing away from the camera to Instagram and Twitter in June 2021.

'They said they did their homework on me,' she said. 'Ask them if they saw my picture from last summer. It's on Instagram. I'm naked, bare butt in the sand hills, raising awareness.

'It's not sexual,' she told Chron. 'But if female nudity isn't for sexual use, I guess it's a no-go.'

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