Believe it or not, there’s a Republican candidate for public office in Texas who is worse than Ken Paxton.
Bo French is so bad that even Sen. John Cornyn called him out on social media this weekend. That’s right, Cornyn, the guy who was defeated in the Republican primary by Paxton, has taken aim at a different GOP candidate.
On Saturday, French posted a photo of students at this weekend’s University of Texas football game with this comment: “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”
What was his beef with the students in the photo he posted? They are not white. Instead, they are Hispanic and Indian and Black — even though surrounded in the stands mainly by white people.
French’s post on X was met with all sorts of comments, some urging him to delete the racist post and others agreeing with him that all these students of color are taking spaces that should be given to white Texas students.
Gaining admission to UT is incredibly difficult — not because of racial issues — because of the school’s popularity and alumni base. Currently, about 35% of in-state applicants are accepted, but less than 10% of out-of-state and international students are accepted. Also, all Texas residents graduating from an accredited Texas high school in the top 5% of their graduating class receive automatic admission to UT Austin.
What French doesn’t seem to understand is that not all Texas residents are white.
Texas has a majority-minority population with no single racial or ethnic group holding an absolute majority, led closely by Hispanic or Latino residents at nearly 40% and non-Hispanic White residents at around 38% to 40%.
Cornyn roasted French on X: “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.”
French is the Republican nominee to lead the Texas Railroad Commission (which oversees the oil bidness) in the general election Nov. 3. He is an investor, a former chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party and a graduate of Texas Christian University.
He won a Republican primary runoff May 26, defeating incumbent Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright. He faces Democrat Jon Rosenthal in the November election.
Last year, French posted a fundraising video on X promoting his vision of “completely routing Democrats from our community, making it the conservative city on a hill.” He pledged, “With your help, we will completely transform Tarrant County and usher in the golden age of Republican rule.”
French also has made disgusting comments about Muslims in Texas.
He is a racist Islamophobe yet was chosen by Republicans in Texas to represent their views. That puts him in the same category as Paxton, who is one of the most flawed Senate candidates imaginable.
All this from a party that claims to represent the work of God in the world.
And back to Cornyn’s point: Will any other Republican leaders denounce French’s blatant racism? Probably not. Because they’re also afraid to denounce Donald Trump’s blatant racism.
If Republican leaders are ever going to grow a spine, this would be a good time for it.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global.