The video captured a moment of jubilation familiar to any college sports fan.
A sea of burnt-orange-clad students erupted in whoops and hollers after the Texas Longhorns’ game-winning touchdown on Saturday night, jumping up and down, hugging one another, tossing drinks in the air.
By Sunday, the scene had become a powder keg for Texas Republicans, after the G.O.P. nominee for a statewide office captioned a screenshot of the celebration with a racist message on social media.
“I heard UT graduation this year looked like this,” the nominee, Bo French, who is running for a spot on a powerful state agency that regulates oil and gas, wrote in a post on X that showed cheering fans of color. “I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” He later posted a complaint about the admission of foreign students at the University of Texas, seeming to assume they could not have been born in the state because of their skin color.
Numerous Texas Republicans condemned the post. Some distanced themselves without explicitly denouncing it. And a handful of others responded to a Republican senator’s disapproval of the post by castigating the senator.
Democrats roundly criticized the post, and some argued that the Republican responses did not go far enough. The uproar came as both parties are in heated midterm competitions across the state, which has navigated flare-ups of Islamophobia and tense debates over immigration.
Mr. French, who is running for the state Railroad Commission, has a history of making anti-Muslim, antisemitic and anti-immigrant comments. He faced criticism last year after sharing a poll on social media asking who was the “bigger threat” to America, Muslims or Jews. The reactions from many Republicans to Mr. French’s post on Sunday reflected the discomfort they have with his candidacy.
“Are other Republican elected officials going to condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized,” Senator John Cornyn, a Republican, wrote on X in response to Mr. French’s post about the football game. “This is how great political parties self-destruct. Sad.”
State Representative Dustin Burrows, a Republican who is the House speaker, wrote: “Delete it.” Mr. Burrows said, “You can oppose immigration policy without demeaning people because of their race or ethnicity — this post has crossed the line.”
State Representative Lacey Hull, a Republican who leads the House committee on Human Services, wrote, “This post breaks my heart.” She added, “I see college kids cheering on their football team. I see Texans.”
After a campaign that demonized Muslims and immigrants, Mr. French narrowly won his primary against Jim Wright, the Railroad Commission’s chairman, in May — despite opposition from prominent Republicans like Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others.
Mr. Abbott, who is running for re-election, said in a statement that Mr. French’s post was “not my message.” He added, “A selective picture of Longhorn fans celebrating our biggest home victory — ever — actually shows a way that Texans unite.” Mr. Abbott then praised strict immigration laws and nodded to his move to block Texas public universities from using skilled foreign worker visas, known as H-1Bs.
In a reply to his original post on Sunday, Mr. French wrote, “I weep for the families in Texas who can’t get into UT because they prioritize foreigners over Texans.” Yet state law requires that Texas high school students who were ranked in the top 10 percent of their class be automatically admitted, and that they compose up to 75 percent of the class. International students make up fewer than 10 percent of the student body, according to statistics that the University of Texas released in September.
Democrats rushed to condemn Mr. French’s comments, including State Representative James Talarico, a nominee for Senate. He called on his Republican opponent, Ken Paxton, Texas’ attorney general, to do the same.
Mr. Paxton turned the request back on his opponent and did not directly address Mr. French’s post.
“I condemn racism in all its forms,” Mr. Paxton wrote on X, adding, “Only one person in this race has a history of dividing Texans by race, and it’s James Talarico.”
State Representative Andy Hopper, a hard-line conservative, responded to Mr. Cornyn’s post about Mr. French by calling Mr. Cornyn a “smug globalist” and highlighting his landslide loss to Mr. Paxton in the Senate primary.
Mr. French has a strong chance to win in November, given the state’s Republican lean. But his candidacy has given his Democratic opponent, State Representative Jon Rosenthal, newfound hope.
In a phone interview, Mr. Rosenthal criticized Mr. Abbott, who he said was “feeding the problem instead of pushing back on it” by invoking foreign worker visas in response to Mr. French’s post.
He rejected Mr. French’s comments.
“Most of the voters that I talk to are tired of the hatefulness and division,” Mr. Rosenthal said, adding, “There’s a small segment of society that revels in hate, and I hope they end up being relegated to irrelevance.”
If Mr. French is elected, he may continue to face resistance from his fellow Republicans. The chair of a committee that oversees the state oil and gas commission, State Representative Drew Darby, said the Legislature could circumscribe Mr. French’s power if he stepped out of line.
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