<\/p>\n
Former Tarrant County Republican Party Chair Bo French, who is running for railroad commissioner, speaks during a 2025 rally in Mansfield. The Texas GOP\u2019s acceptance of French is a sign of rot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shafkat Anowar\/Staff Photographer<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s primary elections have yielded a crop of alarming and extreme candidates in both parties, but few in Texas are as worrying as Bo French.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The former Tarrant County GOP chair is running for railroad commissioner \u2014 an office that\u2019s responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry. His platform is largely unrelated to the actual office and he is known for frequent online bigotry and extremism<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n That has not stopped French from working his way into the highest echelons of the Texas Republican Party. Gov. Greg Abbott recently posted a photo<\/a> of himself with French, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, Attorney General Ken Paxton and others. They met to discuss strategy for the November election.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n It\u2019s bad enough that party leaders embrace Paxton, but even Abbott and Patrick have expressed French\u2019s unfitness. So why accept him now? We asked Abbott\u2019s campaign that very question.<\/p>\n \u201cLast week, Governor Abbott met with all statewide non-judicial candidates, including Bo French, who is running for a statewide seat,\u201d a spokesperson wrote back (emphasis theirs). \u00a0<\/p>\n Yes, that is a statement of the facts. But not exactly a ringing defense.<\/p>\n Abbott, Patrick and Burrows all endorsed French\u2019s incumbent opponent<\/a>, Jim Wright, in the railroad commission primary earlier this year. The base still chose French, though narrowly.\u00a0<\/p>\n French\u2019s campaign website now says Abbott has endorsed him. Abbott\u2019s published list of endorsements does not appear to include French. A spokesperson for Abbott\u2019s campaign did state, however, that he \u201chas endorsed the entire Republican ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Call us crazy, but it doesn\u2019t seem that party leadership is enthused about French. So we\u2019re still wondering why he was invited to this little strategy shindig.\u00a0<\/p>\n We see this far too often. A candidate like French isn\u2019t fit for a major party ticket. Abbott and Patrick know it. They basically said as much. But party is always, always more important than basic decency now. That\u2019s so damaging for our state and nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n French\u2019s views and conduct online would make him unelectable in any healthy party. Accepting him now is just inviting ever more extreme views to center stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n In June, French wrote on social media<\/a> that, if he had the power, he would close and demolish all mosques and \u201cdenaturalize and deport every single Muslim.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He has also expressed an irrational view of immigration that would be comical if he weren\u2019t a general election candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n