World
Texas Republicans rebuke Bo French over racist social media post
Texas Republican leaders denounced a message posted by Bo French, their nominee for the commission that oversees the state’s oil and gas industry. Greg Abbott distanced himself from the post but stopped short of directly condemning it.
Prominent Texas Republicans on Sunday criticized Bo French, their party’s nominee for the state Railroad Commission, over a racist social media post, NBC News reported.
French, who is running for a statewide office with authority over the oil and gas sector, shared a photo of South Asian students at the University of Texas celebrating the school’s football win over Ohio State. Alongside the image, he suggested the situation was far worse than anyone had imagined.
The backlash from within his own party came quickly. Sen. John Cornyn denounced the message and urged other Republican officials to do the same. Rep. Dan Crenshaw also criticized it on X. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows called on French to delete the post, saying immigration policy can be opposed without demeaning people because of their race or ethnicity.
French answered by attacking Cornyn, calling him a Republican in name only, and arguing that Texas institutions were overrun by undocumented immigrants and foreign nationals. NBC News said he did not immediately respond to the outlet’s request for comment.
Gov. Greg Abbott did not directly condemn the post, but said the message did not represent him. He also described the image French shared as selective and said it reflected a way Texans come together. Abbott added that Texas can also lead the country in tough immigration laws and in freezing H-1B visas at its universities.
On the Democratic side, state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, French’s opponent in the Railroad Commission race, accused him of failing to tell a University of Texas student from a foreigner. Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico praised Cornyn’s statement, rejected French’s post and asked Ken Paxton whether he would also speak out. Paxton replied that he condemns racism in all its forms, though without mentioning French or the post, according to NBC News.
NBC News noted that French has a record of making bigoted remarks. According to the outlet, he has used slurs against the LGBTQ community and made antisemitic and Islamophobic comments. Asked in July by WFAA-TV whether he regretted those statements, he said he did not.
The Texas Railroad Commission is a three-member body with broad power over oil and gas production, pipelines and natural gas utilities in the state. Commissioners serve six-year terms. In May, French defeated Abbott-backed incumbent Jim Wright in the Republican primary, NBC News reported.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
