Bo French, the Republican nominee for Texas railroad commissioner, stood by a series of racist social media posts he sent targeting Asian students at the University of Texas, dismissing criticism from fellow Republicans as he campaigns for a seat that oversees the state’s oil and gas industry.
French dismissed the backlash he garnered over his post on X showing a photograph of students celebrating Texas’ football victory over Ohio State, and suggested the students pictured benefitted from discriminatory admissions practices designed to exclude American-born students.
“Social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners” he wrote in a subsequent post. “It’s everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine.”
French pushed back at those offended by his posts, including U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), in a Monday radio interview on “The Mark Davis Show.”
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“I don’t have anything against the people specifically in that picture,” French told Davis on Monday.
“The establishment raised and spent $7 million against me in the primary,” he added. “Many of the people who criticized me yesterday were some of the same people involved in that effort. It’s no surprise that the less-conservative people in Texas are the ones attacking me.”
French’s original post was quickly corrected in an X community note, which specified that Texas state law requires at least 90% of the university’s freshmen be Texas residents, and that international students comprise about 4% of the school’s newcomers.
Cornyn had urged Republican officials to condemn French’s posts, warning that intolerance and racism should not become normalized.
“This is how great political parties self-destruct. Sad,” he wrote on X.
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows, a Republican, also decried the posts and called for their removal, saying opposition to immigration policies did not justify disparaging people based on race or ethnicity.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott distanced himself from French’s message, too, while reiterating his support for immigration restrictions.
French is running for the statewide Texas railroad commissioner office, which serves as the primary regulatory body for the state’s massive oil and natural gas industry.
In November, he’s set to face off against Democratic state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, a Houston lawmaker who worked for 25 years as an oil and gas engineer. French defeated the incumbent commissioner, Jim Wright, in May’s Republican runoff.
Rosenthal said in a statement to The Texas Tribune that his campaign saw $35,000 in contributions following French’s remarks.
“Bo French’s own party has said he is unfit for the office he seeks to hold — and Texans are putting their money behind the oil field engineer who is qualified for it,” he said.
Karl Rove, former adviser to President George W. Bush and longtime Texas GOP political consultant, told attendees at a private lunch that he plans to cast his vote for Rosenthal, calling French a “bigot,” according to sources who spoke with the Tribune.
Those statements drew ire from President Donald Trump late Tuesday, who called Rove “a stone cold loser” for breaking with the party.
“Karl Rove is so bad for the Republican Party, and completely wrong so often. He suffers from a major case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
Following his talk-radio appearance Monday, French attempted to flip the controversy into a fundraising push for his campaign.
“The radical left and their allies are attacking me,” he wrote on X. “Join the thousands of patriots who are supporting our campaign.”
This story has been updated to include news about Karl Rove and a post from President Trump.
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