The race for a relatively obscure statewide office in Texas is gaining national attention after Republican nominee Bo French published a blatantly racist take on the crowd at a University of Texas football game, only to triple down on it amid only tepid pushback from GOP leadership.
French, the Republican nominee for Texas railroad commissioner, kicked off the controversy this weekend by sharing a photo of a group of what appear to be South Asian UT students cheering for the Longhorns on Saturday.
“In the same way HR departments get taken over then exclusively hire in-group, UT seems to be prioritizing the same way,” he wrote.
The post went relatively unnoticed, perhaps emboldening French to double, then triple, down and ultimately using it as a fundraiser.
A day later, French shared a different photo of non-white UT students celebrating at the stadium.
“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 wrote.
In a separate post using the same photo, he later added:
“Like body-cams exposed criminals, social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners. It’s everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine.”
Texas state law stipulates that 90% of UT Austin’s first-year students be state residents. And after a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared affirmative action unconstitutional, the school is legally prohibited from considering race in its admission process.
Two of the students in the photo told The Dallas Morning News they’re U.S. citizens.
“Whether or not we are immigrants, that doesn’t change anything,” one of them, Rahul Kodali, told the outlet. “I’ve been an American my entire life.”
The Dallas Morning News/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images
A handful of high-profile Republicans called on French to delete the posts; so far, he’s duly ignored them and instead leaned in.
“This is the Republican nominee for statewide office,” incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) remarked. “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.”
French responded by saying Cornyn, who lost his primary to Ken Paxton, isn’t a true Republican.
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), a far-right conservative who also lost to a further right candidate in this year’s primary, also criticized French’s post ― and was similarly ignored.
A handful of state-level Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Dustin Burrow, called on French to delete the post. No Republicans have called for him to drop out of the race.
State Rep. Drew Darby (R) went further than most, calling French’s posts “racism, plain and simple,” but stopped short of suggesting he drop out. (His calls for an apology also went unheeded.)
Instead, French on Monday leaned on the firestorm as a fundraising prompt.
“!!BREAKING,” he wrote in a message directing supporters to his donation page. “The radical left and their allies are attacking me. Join the thousands of patriots who are supporting our campaign here.”
It’s unclear how well that message is resonating with voters. French’s Democratic opponent, oil field engineer Jon Rosenthal, told the Texas Tribune Monday he’s seen a surge of donations as a result.
At least one high-profile Republican voter in the state, Karl Rove, said French has lost his vote. Rove, a political consultant and onetime aide to President George W. Bush, reportedly called French a “bigot” at a private lunch event and said he’d be voting for a Democrat for the first time in 30 years.