Texas Republicans condemn railroad commissioner candidate over post about Asian students, calling it racist

Texas Republicans on Sunday condemned the GOP candidate running to become the state’s railroad commissioner over a post about University of Texas at Austin students of South Asian descent.

Candidate Bo French’s post showed South Asian students at a Texas football game, and he suggested people of South Asian descent were taking over the student body.

French initially shared a screenshot of a post on the social platform X that showed the students and a caption that said “Bollywood University.” French then showed a similar image with the caption : “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”

Lawmakers including Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who will be leaving the Senate at the end of his term after losing in the GOP primary to state Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) were among those who condemned French’s post.

“This is the Republican nominee for statewide office,” Cornyn wrote on X . “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.”

Texas state Rep. Lacey Hull (R) urged French to delete the post.

“This post breaks my heart,” she wrote on X . “I see college kids cheering on their football team. I see Texans.”

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R) urged French to delete the post and said the candidate can oppose immigration policies “without demeaning people because of their race or ethnicity –– this post has crossed the line.”

French, however, clapped back at Cornyn, calling him a RINO, or “Republican in name only,” and accusing him of cheering for “illegal aliens and foreign nationals.”

“He and the other America Last losers are mad that Texas Republicans are starting to put America First,” French wrote on X .

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott did not condemn the post, though he told NBC News that Texans should unite behind Texas.

“The way we win the state is the same way we win football games. We unite under the brand of Texas,” Abbott said. “That doesn’t mean that Texas cannot also lead in having the toughest immigration laws of any state in America and freezing H-1B visas at our universities.”

Paxton said he condemned all forms of racism, though he did not address French’s post and instead referred to his Senate opponent, Democrat James Talarico.

“Only one person in this race has a history of dividing Texans by race, and it’s James Talarico,” he wrote on X . “I will continue to focus on uniting our State and bringing together the broadest possible coalition to fight for Texas, our values, and our families.”

The post from Paxton was in response to Talarico thanking Cornyn for condemning French’s post and asking Paxton if he would “condemn this blatant racism or will you cower to extremists?”

French has faced backlash for other offensive statements, including the use of slurs against the LGBTQ community and social media posts that were accused of being antisemitic and Islamophobic.

Asked by Dallas news outlet WFAA-TV in July if he regretted these remarks, French said he did not before adding, “Truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth.”