Bo French, the Republican nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission, is facing backlash from members of his own party after he shared a post on X on Sunday morning describing non-white University of Texas students celebrating a football win as evidence that Texas "institutions have been overrun by illegal aliens and foreign nationals."
French posted about students at the University of Texas celebrating the school's victory over Ohio State the night before. "I heard UT graduation this year looked like this, I didn't believe it," French wrote. "The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined."
Cornyn leads condemnation
US Senator John Cornyn was among the first senior Republicans to denounce the post, calling on others in the party to condemn it. "This is the Republican nominee for statewide office. Are other Republican elected officials going to condemn the intolerance or racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized," Cornyn wrote.
"This is how great political parties self-destruct," he continued, calling it "sad."
Cornyn, who has served in the Senate for 23 years, is not seeking re-election after losing a primary to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Fellow Republicans condemn the post
State Representative Jared Patterson, of Austin, also called the post "racist," adding: "It is wrong. And I condemn it without reservation." He said there was "absolutely nothing Christian or conservative about looking at a crowd of young Texans at a college football game, seeing the color of their skin and declaring that they are a 'problem.'"
"These are 20-year-old kids cheering for their university - not political props and not targets for racial attacks," Patterson wrote. He noted that the Texas Railroad Commission, the office French is seeking, only regulates the state's oil and gas industry and has no role in federal immigration policy.
"Texans deserve Railroad Commissioners focused on the responsibilities of that office - not using a statewide campaign as a platform for racial division," Patterson said, adding that the post did not represent his Christian faith, his conservative principles or "the Republican Party I believe in." "We should be willing to call racism wrong no matter who says it, what party they belong to or how politically inconvenient it may be," he concluded. "This is wrong and I want no part of it."
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows also urged French to remove the post. "You can oppose immigration policy without demeaning people because of their race or ethnicity - this post has crossed the line. Delete it," Burrows wrote.
Calls to delete the post grow
Republican Representatives Lacey Hull, of Houston, and Jeff Leach, of Plano, both allies of Burrows, joined the calls for French to take the post down. "Please delete this," Hull wrote. "This post breaks my heart. I see college kids cheering on their football teams. I see Texans."
Leach shared a photo of his own son with friends at the game. "This is my son Brady at the @TexasFootball game with his pledge class," he wrote. "Bo thinks it's a 'problem' they don't all look like and have the same color as Brady. I think that's racist - and it makes me sick."
Democratic opponent responds
French's Democratic opponent, State Representative Jon Rosenthal, also condemned the post. "I spent 25 years as an oil and gas engineer. Bo French spent Sunday morning sorting our student section by skin color," Rosenthal wrote, adding that Governor Greg Abbott had said French would "wreck" the state's oil and gas industry. "A man who can't tell a Longhorn from a foreigner has no business regulating anything in TX," he said.
In a separate post, Rosenthal thanked Cornyn "for having the decency to call out this racist rhetoric," adding: "It's truly unfortunate that so many elected 'leaders' will just silently let this pass."
French doubles down
Rather than deleting the post, French doubled down, accusing Cornyn and other Republicans he labeled "RINOs," or Republicans in Name Only, of being "anti-American." "Our state's institutions have been overrun by illegal aliens and foreign nationals because of RINOs like John Cornyn who have cheered for them over our own citizens," he wrote. "He and the other America Last losers are mad that Texas Republicans are starting to put America First."
A history of controversial statements
French, the former Tarrant County GOP chair, has faced backlash before over controversial statements, including a past call for the deportation of 100 million Americans. He has built his campaign around anti-Islamic rhetoric, vowing to "stop the Islamic invasion of Texas" and "end DEI's stranglehold on Texas oil." His campaign website describes him as "a proven conservative fighter who has stood up to the Chinese Communist Party and radical Islam."
As of July, French held a three-point lead over Rosenthal, according to a survey of likely voters by the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research Center at Texas Southern University. The poll found 44 percent of respondents intended to vote for French, compared with 41 percent for Rosenthal.
Eleven percent of self-identified Republicans and 10 percent of self-identified Democrats said they were undecided, the survey found, while 43 percent of independent respondents said they were unsure of both candidates.
