On Sunday, Bo French, the Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner, posted a series of xenophobic social media posts taking aim at students of color celebrating at the University of Texas football game, and prompting a wave of intra-party rebuke just weeks before the November election.
The morning after the Texas Longhorns pulled off a major comeback to upset Ohio State, French shared a photo of students of South Asian descent cheering in burnt orange gears from the stands. The former Tarrant County GOP chair, who has called for the deportation of 100 million people which would include U.S. citizens, said the scene shows “how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners.”
“I heard UT graduation this year looked like this,” French said in another post with a photo of the students. “I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”
Several of the commenters on his post noted that he was calling students “foreigners” without any information about their status and based solely on the color of their skin. The University of Texas at Austin didn’t respond to a request for comment.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who lost his reelection primary bid to Attorney General Ken Paxton in May, quickly blasted French’s comment and called on others to do the same.
“This is the Republican nominee for statewide office,” Cornyn said in his post. “Are other Republican elected officials going to condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized. This is how great political parties self-destruct. Sad.”
State Rep. Jon Rosenthal, a Houston Democrat who is running against French, thanked the senator for speaking out. The railroad commissioners are statewide elected positions that regulate the state’s oil and gas industry.
“It’s truly unfortunate that so many elected ‘leaders’ will just silently let this pass,” Rosenthal added.
Several Texas Republicans have quickly responded to Cornyn’s call, while others threw their support behind French. These exchanges also come amid rising hostility against Muslims as well as the state’s fast-growing Indian population, as Republicans raise concerns about the H-1B visa program that are largely used by high-skill Indian immigrants.
Earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott told state agencies and public universities to pause their processing of any new H-1B visas. Some in the Texas Republican Congressional delegation have also called for a freeze on all legal immigration.
When asked about French’s remarks, Abbott didn’t condemn them or called for them to be deleted. Instead he pointed to unity under the Texas brand, while touting immigration restrictions in the state.
“A selective picture of Longhorn fans celebrating our biggest home victory-ever-actually shows a way that Texans unite. We all support our college football teams. The way we win the state is the same way we win football games. We unite under the brand of Texas,” Abbott said in a statement. “That doesn’t mean that Texas cannot also lead in having the toughest immigration laws of any state in America and freezing H1B visas at our universities.”
GOP Backlash
Cornyn’s message prompted a flood of criticisms against French from several Texas Republican state representatives.
“You can oppose immigration policy without demeaning people because of their race or ethnicity — this post has crossed the line,” said House Speaker Dustin Burrows.
Others took an even firmer stance.
Former House Speaker Dade Phelan called French “unfit for office.” State Rep. Jared Patterson said Texans deserve Railroad Commissioners who do their job instead of “using a statewide campaign as a platform for racial division.” And state Rep. Drew Darby lamented that he has “never seen conduct so unbecoming of a Railroad Commissioner or candidate in that time.”
Darby’s call for French to apologize came with a threat.
“If not, I would remind any candidate that the Texas Legislature has granted the Railroad Commission broad discretion in carrying out its duties — because we have trusted the competence and fairness of those who serve. That trust can be revisited,” Darby, who chairs the House’s Energy Resources committee, added in his post on X.
“If Mr. French wants to regulate immigration policy, he should have run for Congress.”
But, in the hours since Cornyn’s criticisms, French has only doubled and tripled down on his remarks and called the senator a RINO — Republican in name only — who has cheered for foreign nationals over American citizens.
“He and the other America Last losers are mad that Texas Republicans are starting to put America First,” he said in a post. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Some Texas Republicans, like former Texas GOP chair Matt Rinaldi and state Rep. Andy Hopper, also came to French’s defense. They mostly attacked Cornyn, with Hopper deriding the senator as a “smug globalist” who lost his primary election by 28 points.
Across the aisle, the Texas Democratic Party issued a statement calling on Abbott to condemn French’s remarks. Meanwhile, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, the Austin Democrat who is running against Abbott, called French “unfit to serve.”
State Rep. James Talarico, an Austin Democrat who is running against Paxton for the U.S. Senate seat, similarly acknowledged Cornyn’s comment before pushing his rival for a response.
“Will you condemn this blatant racism or will you cower to extremists?” Talarico said in a post on X directed at Paxton, whose campaign did not immediately respond to a comment request.
The attorney general has supported French’s campaign, saying that he will be “a great Railroad Commissioner.”
“Wreck the miracle”
This was not the first time that elected Texas Republican officials have blasted French for his racist remarks, but it remains to be seen whether these criticisms would blunt his rise to statewide office.
Several state leaders including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called on him to resign from his role as the Tarrant County chair last year, after French published a social media poll asking whether Jews or Muslims were a bigger threat to America.
Patrick then endorsed French’s rival in the Republican primary for the Texas Railroad Commissioner race earlier this year. But the lieutenant governor reportedly changed his stance, after French won the primary runoff to be the GOP nominee.
Abbott has also supported French in the statewide race, despite previously warning during the primary election that he would “wreck the miracle” of Texas’ oil and gas production.
Patrick’s office did not immediately respond to a comment request about whether he would condemn French’s new posts. Cornyn’s office also did not immediately respond to questions, including whether he would back Rosenthal in the Texas Railroad Commissioner race.
French also has the support of the industry, as he announced an endorsement from the Texas Oil & Gas Association PAC on Thursday. In response, Rosenthal said it was disappointing to see the trade association — whose members produce nearly all of Texas’ crude oil and natural gas — backs a “wholly unqualified” nominee instead of a “true oil and gas candidate.”
On Sunday, the Democrat pointed to French’s remarks and asked in a post on X if the association endorses them: “Attacking young Texans, some of whom will be O&G engineers? How do your members feel about this?”
The TXOGA PAC didn’t immediately respond to a comment request.
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