Top Texas Republicans and oil industry groups are scrambling to distance themselves from Railroad Commission nominee Bo French after he posted a photo of mostly South Asian University of Texas at Austin students celebrating a football victory and claimed it showed “how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners.” Two of the students have since said they are U.S. citizens, and according to the Texas Tribune, party leaders had plenty of warning before nominating French given his long record of racist, antisemitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-LGBTQ+ posts.
Before winning the GOP primary, French had already called an approaching end to SNAP services “National Chimp Out Day,” suggested deporting 100 million people, and declared this summer that he “won’t rest until every muslim is gone.” None of that falls under the Texas Railroad Commission, a 135-year-old agency that regulates oil and gas drilling, pipelines, and wastewater—not trains, federal immigration, or Longhorns tailgates.
Even so, top Republicans who fought French in the May primary runoff quickly fell in line once he won. Gov. Greg Abbott, who previously warned that French “would wreck the miracle” of Texas oil and gas production before endorsing him anyway, said the UT post “is not my message”—and then immediately pivoted to plugging his push for “freezing H1B visas at our universities.”
House Speaker Dustin Burrows declared that “this post has crossed the line” right before adding, “I support the entire Republican ticket. Period. Full stop.” Plano Rep. Jeff Leach went even further, calling the post “racist” and saying it “makes me sick,” before explaining he will “hold my nose” and vote for French anyway rather than back Democratic nominee Jon Rosenthal, a Houston state representative and oil and gas engineer. So far, only U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and strategist Karl Rove have said they will not vote for French.
Big Oil Goes Quiet
Meanwhile, the Texas Tribune reports that major energy companies like ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Occidental Petroleum simply ignored reporters’ questions about the man trying to become their chief regulator. The Texas Oil and Gas Association’s PAC—which gave about $100,000 to incumbent Jim Wright in the primary before endorsing French days before his September 13 post—said it “unequivocally and without reservation condemns” the tweet, while major drillers appear content to pretend he does not exist until November.
Nothing says bold moral leadership in Texas politics quite like loudly condemning a candidate’s racism on Sunday and filling in his bubble on Tuesday.
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