Texas – “‘We all make mistakes but what does he do? No takedown of offensive post, no apology. Just doubles down and raises $ using it,’ Sen. John Cornyn said, accusing Texas Republican Railroad Commission candidate Bo French of refusing to apologize after a series of controversial social media posts targeting the racial makeup of University of Texas students.
Cornyn, a Texas Republican, continued his criticism of French after the candidate stood by the posts and used the controversy to promote his campaign. Cornyn said the Republican Party should condemn what he described as bigotry directed at fellow Texans, warning that failing to do so could have consequences for the party.
“The Republican Party is better than this,” Cornyn wrote. “We should all condemn this bigotry directed at our fellow Texans or we will soon find ourselves a minority.”
The dispute began after the University of Texas defeated Ohio State in a Sept. 12 football game. The following day, French shared a photograph showing UT students celebrating in the stands and wrote that he had heard the university’s graduation looked like the image and that “the problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” He later posted that social media was “exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners.”
The posts quickly drew criticism from Republicans and Democrats, with several Texas Republicans publicly calling on French to remove them or condemning the comments.
Cornyn was among the most prominent Republican critics. On Sept. 13, he questioned whether other Republican elected officials would condemn what he called intolerance and racism or allow it to become normalized.
“This is the Republican nominee for statewide office,” 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.”
French did not remove the posts. Instead, he defended them during a Monday appearance on the Mark Davis Show, a conservative radio program.
According to The Texas Tribune, French suggested that some of the Republicans criticizing him were “less-conservative people” and connected the criticism to his previous primary fight.
“The establishment raised and spent $7 million against me in the primary,” French said, according to the Tribune. “Many of the people who criticized me yesterday were some of the same people involved in that effort.”
French also continued promoting his campaign as the controversy grew. In a post shared Sept. 14, he described the criticism as an attack by “the radical left and their allies” and directed supporters to a campaign fundraising page.
Cornyn responded the following day, specifically pointing to the lack of an apology or removal of the original posts and accusing French of using the controversy to raise money.
The controversy has also prompted responses from officials connected to UT. The University of Texas System Board of Regents chairman Kevin P. Eltife said he was proud to celebrate the school’s students, while UT President Jim Davis said the university’s students were exceptional and that all of them were Longhorns.
The Texas Tribune also reported that students shown in French’s post said they were upset by the comments. Some said they were American citizens or Texas residents, challenging the implication that the people shown in the photograph were necessarily foreign students.
The Washington Post reported that UT’s response came after French’s posts were condemned by members of both political parties. The publication also reported that Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Republican state representatives Lacey Hull, Jeff Leach, Jared Patterson and Dade Phelan criticized French’s comments or called for action.
The controversy has also attracted national attention because French is the Republican nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission, the three-member state agency responsible for regulating the oil and gas industry. The position is a statewide elected office, putting the dispute beyond a local political contest.
Reuters reported that the racial claims in French’s posts conflict with enrollment figures at UT-Austin. According to the report, only 4.3% of undergraduate students at the university are international students, while more than 80% of all students are Texas residents. State law also requires 90% of each incoming class to be Texas residents.
French’s comments have therefore triggered a broader political dispute over immigration, race, higher education and the direction of the Texas Republican Party.
Cornyn has continued to frame the controversy as a question of how Republican leaders respond to offensive political rhetoric within their own party. His Sept. 15 statement specifically focused on French’s decision not to remove the post or apologize while continuing to solicit campaign support.
The Republican nominee, meanwhile, has maintained his position rather than backing away from the comments, turning what began as a post about UT students following a football game into a growing statewide political controversy involving prominent Texas Republicans, university officials and the candidates competing for statewide office.”
