The worst, most vile candidate in Texas isn’t who you might think
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- Bo French, a GOP candidate for Texas’ powerful Railroad Commission, is under fire for racist posts targeting Asian American students celebrating a dramatic football win.
- With Gov. Greg Abbott and Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton facing competitive races, French’s racism becomes a test of party loyalty and turnout.
In the second week of the college football season, in a clash of titans, the University of Texas scored 21 unanswered points to surge past Ohio State in the fourth quarter and win, 24-23.
The comeback, Gov. Greg Abbott decreed, was the greatest home victory in more than 130 years of Longhorn football.
A screen grab of one celebratory moment showed a group of students ecstatic beyond belief. They were clad in the university’s signature burnt orange. Two wore cowboy hats. One flashed “Hook ‘em Horns,” the university’s proud hand signal.
To see the picture earlier this month was to witness pure, untempered joy.
But Bo French, the Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commission, saw something different.
Most of the students were darkly complected and apparently of South Asian heritage. French posted the photo and wrote on X, “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”
He followed with a second post, doubling down on the racist “Great Replacement” theory.
“Like body-cams exposed criminals, social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners,” French spewed. “It’s everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine.”
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In many places, French’s unapologetic, unvarnished bigotry would be disqualifying. But given Texas’ strong Republican leaning he stands a better-than-even chance of being elected in November to the state Railroad Commission, which, despite its name, oversees Texas’ vast oil and gas industry.
The hateful gibe was perfectly in character. “In some ways in Texas this is old news,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, who teaches political science at the University of Houston.
Last year, as chairman of the Tarrant County GOP, French posted an online poll asking, “Who is a bigger threat to America?” The choice on offer: Muslims or Jews.
Speaking in March at a political conference, he urged President Trump to round up and deport every Muslim in the country, calling the Islamic faith subversive and a clear and present danger to America.
“The Republican Party is used to Bo French making these kinds of outrageous statements,” Rottinghaus said.
In Texas, in particular, candidates have fastened on a growing Muslim population as they seek a new political scapegoat. The state’s top elected officials have led the charge.
Still, the response to French’s latest acrid emission was telling, not least for what it says about reflexive partisanship and today’s political reward structure.
As you’d expect, his Democratic opponent, state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, was scathing. “I spent 25 years as an oil and gas engineer,” he wrote on social media. “Bo French spent Sunday morning sorting our student section by skin color ... A man who can’t tell a Longhorn from a foreigner has no business regulating anything in TX.”
The state’s outgoing U.S. senator, Republican John Cornyn, was also quick to denounce French. “This is the Republican nominee for statewide office,” Cornyn said in a post. “Are other Republican elected officials going to condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized.”
For Abbott and for Ken Paxton, who beat Cornyn in an eye-gouging, rabbit-punching Republican Senate primary, the answer was, for all intents, the latter.
“That is not my message,” Abbott said in a written statement, summoning the moral clarity and political courage of a puff pastry. “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.”
Then, just to have it both ways, Abbott suggested “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.” (The overwhelming majority of those holding H1B visas are Asian nationals from India and China.)
Paxton responded by attacking his Democratic opponent, state Rep. James Talarico, for saluting Cornyn for taking a stand against French’s prejudice. “I condemn racism in all its forms,” Paxton wrote on X, adding, “Only one person in this race has a history of dividing Texans by race, and it’s James Talarico.”
A simple, straightforward condemnation shouldn’t have been hard. Lacey Hull, a Republican state representative from Houston, was among those in the GOP who showed how.
“Please delete this,” she urged French on X. “This post breaks my heart. I see college kids cheering on their football team. I see Texans.”
The four-seat gain Democrats need to win control once seemed all but out of reach. Odds are looking up, though the party still faces a tough path, with toss-up races in a half dozen (mostly red) states.
But Abbott, bidding for an unprecedented fourth term, is facing a tougher than expected race against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa.
Paxton, whose unsavory resume includes impeachment, indictment, petty theft and charges of adultery, has managed the rare feat of turning his race against Talarico into a nail-biter. (It’s been more than three decades since a Democrat won statewide office in Texas.)
Both need a robust GOP turnout to win in November and neither wants to risk alienating too many within the party’s xenophobic, anti-immigrant wing.
“They’re concerned about turnout,” said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University. “Texas is a red state, but one thing that Republicans are concerned about is that the base may not turn out in as large a number as they need.”
Given French’s loathsome history, Abbott and others in the party establishment worked hard to keep him from winning the Republican nomination, Rice noted. But not Paxton. He headlined the kickoff to French’s campaign and has good reason to be glad he won and is now part of the GOP ticket.
His presence means that Paxton is only the second most odious figure seeking statewide office in Texas in November.
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Ideas expressed in the piece
- The article argues that Bo French’s comments about University of Texas students, echoing “Great Replacement” rhetoric and depicting nonwhite fans as a “problem,” amount to unapologetic racism that should disqualify a candidate from regulating the state’s powerful oil and gas industry.[8][10][28]
- The article contends that French’s posts are consistent with a longer record of incendiary behavior, noting prior polling that pitted Muslims against Jews and public calls to deport Muslims, which the column treats as evidence of how extremist and nativist messaging has been rewarded rather than punished within Texas Republican politics.[7][8][12]
- The piece suggests that the reactions to French’s remarks expose deep partisan reflexes: while Democratic opponent Jon Rosenthal and Republican Sen. John Cornyn condemned the comments as racist and intolerant, leading GOP figures such as Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton offered calibrated or evasive responses that avoided directly rebuking French.[6][8][27]
- The article argues that Abbott’s statement lauding Longhorn fans for “uniting under the brand of Texas,” followed immediately by calls for the toughest state immigration laws and freezing H‑1B visas at universities, illustrates a strategic effort to distance from overt racism while still appealing to hard‑line anti‑immigrant sentiment.[8][9][14]
- The column contends that Paxton’s decision to respond to the controversy by attacking Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico, rather than addressing French’s remarks, exemplifies how grievance politics and culture‑war framing can be used to deflect attention from racism inside the party.[9][13][27]
- The article notes that elements of the GOP establishment previously tried to block French’s rise, but his primary victory over an Abbott‑backed incumbent and his continued viability in a strongly Republican state show how party nominating systems can elevate provocateurs whose rhetoric alarms more moderate leaders.[8][12][28]
- The piece ultimately argues that French’s candidacy, and the reluctance of key Republicans to confront his bigotry head‑on, reflect a broader political reward structure in which xenophobia and nativism are normalized and even leveraged to mobilize base turnout, making French emblematic of a wider trend rather than an isolated case.[6][8][15]
Different views on the topic
- At the same time, French consistently defends the posts by insisting they are a legitimate critique of university admissions and hiring practices, claiming institutions like UT discriminate against “heritage Americans” and favor foreign students and workers, which French describes as the real racism.[2][5][15]
- Additionally, French argues that it is “not racist to point out that we should be favoring Texans over foreigners,” casting the backlash as an attack orchestrated by the “radical left and their allies” and using the controversy to energize supporters and raise money as a champion of citizens against elite institutions.[2][14][15]
- In parallel, conservative commentary sympathetic to French frames the UT student‑section image as evidence of unsettling demographic change, asserting that Americans angered by what they see as universities being “overrun” by foreign nationals and aggressive immigration policies “have every right to be upset” about perceived displacement.[1][3]
- Some Republican strategists and commentators maintain that, while French’s language is inflammatory, focusing on his rhetoric risks ignoring broader concerns about border security, enforcement of immigration laws, and perceived excesses of diversity, equity and inclusion programs that continue to resonate with many Texas voters.[14][15][29]
- Meanwhile, Abbott and allied Republicans present a more nuanced position, saying French’s message is not theirs and that the UT photo shows Texans united, yet simultaneously emphasizing support for having the “toughest immigration laws” and freezing H‑1B visas at state universities, suggesting strong immigration controls can be paired with calls for unity.[7][8][9]
- Paxton and supporters, for their part, argue that demands to condemn French reflect a double standard, pointing instead to Talarico’s past comments about white men and white supremacy and claiming that critics overlook what they describe as anti‑white bias when evaluating racism in Texas politics.[9][11][13]
- Finally, some Republicans highlight the swift condemnations from Cornyn, state House leaders and local legislators as proof that the party can police its own, arguing that French’s remarks are an aberration and that the broader GOP remains committed to rejecting racism even when it originates inside its ranks.[4][8][28]