Bo French, the Republican nominee for a statewide post on Texas’s Railroad Commission, has faced condemnation from senior Republicans after describing a group of Asian American students at a University of Texas football game as “a problem”.
French posted a photograph on X showing students celebrating in the crowd and wrote: “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”
Senator John Cornyn called the post racist and challenged other Republican officials to condemn it.
“This is the Republican nominee for statewide office,” Mr Cornyn wrote. “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.”
Governor Greg Abbott also rejected the message, saying the photograph showed Texans united behind their team after its victory over top-ranked Ohio State.
“That is not my message,” Mr Abbott said. “A selective picture of Longhorn fans celebrating our biggest home victory-ever-actually shows a way that Texans unite. We all support our college football teams.”
He added: “The way we win the state is the same way we win football games. We unite under the brand of Texas.”
Mr Abbott defended Texas’s hard-line immigration policies, saying unity did not prevent the state from pursuing “the toughest immigration laws of any state in America and freezing H1B visas at our universities”.
Texas Republicans condemn Bo French post
Several Republican members of the Texas House joined the criticism. Lacey Hull urged Mr French to delete the post, writing: “This post breaks my heart. I see college kids cheering on their football team. I see Texans.”
Jared Patterson called the message racist and said it demeaned students because of their race or ethnicity.
“There is absolutely nothing Christian or conservative about looking at a crowd of young Texans at a college football game, seeing the color of their skin, and declaring that they are a ‘problem,’” Mr Patterson wrote. “These are 20-year-old kids cheering for their university — not political props and not targets for racial attacks.”
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows said opposition to immigration policy did not justify “demeaning people because of their race or ethnicity”. He said Mr French had “crossed the line” and should remove the post, while Jeff Leach wrote: “Delete this, Bo.”
Mr French also received support from some Republicans, who attacked Mr Cornyn for speaking out. Former Texas Republican Party chairman Matt Rinaldi accused Mr Cornyn and other Republicans of mortgaging “our children’s future for government handouts and cheap labour”, while state representative Andy Hopper called him a “smug globalist”.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is running to succeed Mr Cornyn, responded to a request for comment by attacking his Democratic opponent without mentioning Mr French.
Mr French has previously used inflammatory rhetoric. Earlier this year, he suggested Republicans should fear Islam and advocated deporting 100 million people.
Representatives for Mr French and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
