A slew of Texas Republicans have denounced Bo French, the Republican nominee for Texas Railroad commissioner, for racist social media posts over the weekend about students at the University of Texas at Austin.
In a Sunday morning post on X, French shared a photo of University of Texas students at a home football game — most of whom appeared to be non-White and almost all were decked out in the Longhorns’ burnt orange and white — gleefully celebrating UT’s victory over Ohio State.
“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.”
French later posted the same picture and wrote that “social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners.”
His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday morning. French made multiple posts Sunday denigrating diversity practices and foreign students and complaining that “heritage Americans” were discriminated against.
Many statewide GOP officials condemned French’s posts, as did outgoing Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who said such behavior was “how great political parties self-destruct” and called on other Republicans to condemn French’s “intolerance and racism.”
This is the Republican nominee for statewide office. 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. https://t.co/TO1dTXKd6G
— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) September 13, 2026
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) and Republican state Reps. Lacey Hull, Jeff Leach, Jared Patterson and Dade Phelan also publicly denounced French or called on him to delete his posts.
“This is racist. It is wrong. And I condemn it without reservation. … These are 20-year-old kids cheering for their university — not political props and not targets for racial attacks,” wrote Patterson, an alum of UT rival Texas A&M University. (“You known Bo French really stepped in it because I’m seeing Aggies defend UT,” one X user observed.)
Democrats also widely condemned French’s posts. French’s Democratic opponent, Texas state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, used the moment to tout his qualifications for being elected to the three-person Railroad Commission of Texas, which is responsible for regulating the state’s oil and natural gas industry.
“I spent 25 years as an engineer in the oil and gas industry. Bo French spent Sunday morning sorting the … student section by skin color. … A man who can’t tell a Longhorn from a foreigner has no business regulating anything in Texas,” Rosenthal said in a statement.
The commissioner elections are typically not high-profile races that draw the national spotlight. French, however, has regularly made inflammatory and racist statements throughout his candidacy, including calling for Native Americans to be denaturalized and deported.
After a close GOP primary race triggered a runoff between French and incumbent Jim Wright, President Donald Trump endorsed Wright. French narrowly won the May primary runoff by about one percentage point.
French’s latest incendiary posts come at a time when Republicans are already nervous about the unusually close races for Senate and governor unfolding in the state.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who is running for a fourth term against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, said that French’s tweet was “not my message” and that the pictured showed how Texans unite.
“The way we win the state is the same way we win football games. We unite under the brand of Texas,” Abbott said.
In the same statement, Abbott also encouraged strict immigration laws and touted freezing H-1B visas at Texas universities. And unlike other Republicans who criticized French, Abbott did not post his statement online, did not explicitly condemn French’s posts and did not call on French to delete them.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), the Republican nominee for Senate, posted that said he condemned racism “in all its forms” but quickly pivoted to attacking his Democratic Senate opponent, James Talarico.
The post Texas Republicans denounce GOP statewide candidate for racist posts about UT students appeared first on Washington Post.
