AUSTIN, Texas - Bo French, the Republican nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission, is facing criticism from members of his own party after posting a series of comments about University of Texas students celebrating the Longhorns’ comeback win over Ohio State.
The social media posts were made Sunday and began with French sharing a photo of a crowd celebrating Texas’ 24-23 victory over the Buckeyes at UT Austin’s football stadium.
GOP backlash over UT Football post
What we know:
In the post by French, he shared a photo of Longhorn fans celebrating 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."
French later wrote that social media were exposing "how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners," adding that the situation was "far worse than any of us could imagine."
Texas state law requires at least 90% of UT Austin freshmen to be Texas residents. International students comprise only ~4% of recent freshmen and compete with out-of-state applicants for the ~10% non-resident spots.
Some Texas Republicans condemn comments
What they're saying:
The comments prompted criticism from U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who questioned whether other Republican officials would condemn French’s remarks.
"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."
Big picture view:
Gov. Greg Abbott also addressed the controversy, saying French’s interpretation of the photo did not reflect his own message.
"That is not my message," Abbott said. "A selective picture of Longhorn fans celebrating our biggest home victory ever actually shows a way that Texans unite."
Abbott said Texans "unite under the brand of Texas," while also pointing to his support for strict immigration policies and freezing H-1B visas at universities.
French defends remarks against criticism
Dig deeper:
French did not retract the posts. Instead, he accused Cornyn and other Republicans of allowing Texas institutions to be "overrun by illegal aliens and foreign nationals."
"John Cornyn says we should accept decline," French wrote. "The voters I talk to want to return our institutions to serving the interests of our citizens."
Texas Railroad Commission November race
Local perspective:
French’s posts come as he prepares for the November general election. He won the Republican primary runoff for railroad commissioner in May and is scheduled to face Democratic state Rep. Jon Rosenthal on Nov. 3.
French is a former Tarrant County Republican Party chairman and has previously drawn criticism for controversial comments about immigration, Islam and other issues.
His campaign website says he is focused on energy policy and defending Texas’ oil and gas industry. The three-member Railroad Commission regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, including drilling, pipeline safety and oil-field waste.
A Democrat has not held a seat on the commission in decades.
The Source: Information in this article was provided from public social media posts.