In June 2025, Bo French, who was then serving as Tarrant County GOP chairman, posted a poll on social media: “Who is a bigger threat to America?” There were two choices: Muslims and Jews.
Another X poll posted by French the year prior read: “If you believe [Kamala] Harris’ policies are better for Americans than Trump’s policies, you are…” The choices were. “Ignorant,” “A liar,” “Retarded” and “Gay.”
French has suggested that 100 million people be deported from the United States. He’s referred to state Rep. Gene Wu as a “commie” and called for the federal government to denaturalize and deport state Rep. Salman Bhojani. He’s used slurs against LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities.
And now, in a bid for Texas railroad commissioner, French is leading in the polls over the Democratic nominee, Houston state Rep. Jon Rosenthal.
Earlier this week, Rosenthal answered on the second ring a cell phone he used last summer to call the Houston Press from Chicago during a highly publicized quorum break. At the time of the Chicago call, Rosenthal was serving as the appointed vice chair of the House Select Committee on Redistricting.
The candidate says it’s not his style to sling mud against French on the campaign trail. The four-term state rep is choosing to highlight his experience in the state Legislature and as a mechanical engineer.
He says he first began thinking about a bid for railroad commissioner during Winter Storm Uri in 2021. “Hundreds of our fellow Texans perished as a result of that storm,” he said. “We had senior citizens freeze to death in their houses and hundreds more die of asphyxiation just trying to stay warm or charge their phones while sitting in their cars.”
The Legislature was in session at the time but recessed when it became dangerous for lawmakers to travel to Austin. When they got back to the Capitol after the storm, Rosenthal brought forth what he said were some “sensible suggestions” to ensure a lower death toll in the event of another ice storm.
“One of the major root causes was natural gas freezing off,” he says. “Even though we make more wind energy than any other state in the Union, still half of the electricity we generate in Texas comes from burning natural gas. When it freezes off and you shut down the natural gas supply, it starves the generator of its fuel and once the generator goes down, the lights go out in Texas. That’s the heart of the problem.”
So Rosenthal proposed solutions for “weatherizing” natural gas facilities, which he says were dismissed by his Republican colleagues. “I may have used foul language,” Rosenthal said. “I was extremely frustrated and dismayed, and I walked away from the conversation thinking that I was definitely going to come back and do something about this. I am highly motivated to help shore up our energy infrastructure to make it more reliable.”
The Railroad Commission of Texas is the state’s primary energy regulator and oversees the oil and gas industry, pipeline safety and natural gas utilities. Yet French has said he will use the position to “stop the Islamic invasion.”
The GOP candidate’s 3 percentage-point lead is baffling for some government watchdogs who saw prominent members of the Republican Party, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, condemn French’s 2025 social media post about Muslims and Jewish people. Patrick called for French’s resignation, saying that “antisemitism and religious bigotry have no place in the Republican Party.”
Patrick, along with Gov. Greg Abbott and Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows, endorsed French’s primary runoff opponent Jim Wright. French narrowly won the runoff with 50.5 percent of the vote. During the GOP primary runoff campaign, Abbott said French “doesn’t know anything about oil and gas” and warned that electing him would “wreck” Texas’ oil production.
French has deleted some of his controversial posts, although screenshots still exist and have been frequently recirculated as the campaign for railroad commissioner heats up. A quick scan of French’s posts on X from earlier this week reveals a call for mass deportation and fierce support for President Donald Trump.
French did not respond to multiple requests for an interview with the Press. He also recently turned down a visit with the Houston Chronicle editorial board, making a dig in the process at deputy opinion editor Raj Mankad, who has shared publicly about being raised Hindu in Kentucky and Alabama.
“What questions do you think Raj Mankad has?” French tweeted. In May, the editorial board called French “an embarrassment to the Republican Party, a coward and a bigot.”
Chronicle opinion editor Evan Mintz shared French’s tweet with a note: “What a little coward.” Mintz also jumped to Rosenthal’s defense after French circulated an AI-generated image of Rosenthal smiling inside the room where Russia’s Romanov royal family was killed after the Bolshevik Revolution.
“He’s campaigning to regulate oil and gas. Why is he linking his Jewish opponent to the Bolshevik Revolution?” Mintz posted, referencing a headline in Forward, a Jewish independent newsletter.
Rosenthal says French is an “avowed racist,” noting that screenshots exist of French replying, “yes,” when people have accused him on social media of being racist. “He’s clearly proud of that,” Rosenthal said.
But French’s lead in the polls can clearly be tied to the fact that most Texan voters aren’t spending a lot of time on X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, where the Republican candidate issues most of his missives.
A Texas Southern University survey found that an overwhelming majority of Texas voters do not know enough about French (67 percent) or Rosenthal (83 percent) to have an opinion of them. Among the minority with an opinion, 19 percent have a favorable opinion of French and 14 percent an unfavorable opinion. Seven percent have a favorable opinion of Rosenthal and 10 percent an unfavorable opinion.
Republicans have dominated statewide seats for more than three decades, but that could change if large numbers of Dems show up to the polls to cast ballots in the big-ticket races like the U.S. Senate contest between James Talarico and Ken Paxton.
Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University who surveyed Texas voters for the TSU poll, said most Texans aren’t familiar with any of the candidates in down-ballot races.
“Eighty percent have no idea who [Texas Land Commissioner] Dawn Buckingham is. For an incumbent, that’s not good,” Jones said. “The one saving grace for Republicans in a lot of these down-ballot races is that their Democratic rivals are not well-known and don’t have a lot of money.”
“Bo French gives Ken Paxton a run for his money in being a flawed candidate but the reality is, I don’t think Jon Rosenthal or Texas Democrats are going to have the resources to educate Texas voters on Bo French’s past statements and rhetoric,” Jones added.
University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus said the railroad commissioner race has “tremendous implications” for the Republican Party.
“It’s a real test of how far right the GOP electorate has moved,” he said. “The question has long been, will Republicans move so far to the right that it will alienate voters? This will be a race that will tell us if that’s true or not. It’s a race to gauge what it takes to win statewide in the GOP.”
Rottinghaus said Rosenthal doesn’t just have to get people to the polls; he has to persuade some Republicans and independents who are uncomfortable with extremism to vote for him.
“On a generic ballot, the battle between R’s and D’s statewide is going to favor Republicans,” Rottinghaus said. “It’s these offices that people don’t know about that will be the last to flip. Comparing French’s performance with other state Republicans could tell us whether candidate quality and rhetoric matters or whether straight-ticket partisanship will forever hold the line in Texas.”
Rosenthal says he’s aware of the uphill battle ahead but he’s spending time in areas that were carried by French’s primary runoff challenger, and getting to know industry professionals in the Permian Basin and the Panhandle. “It’s not a turnout exercise,” he said. “This is more of an information exercise. We just want people to learn a little bit about the job and who the candidates are.”
Rosenthal is one of 12 Texas Democrats who flipped a legislative seat in 2018. He was elected to his freshman term alongside “classmates” Talarico, Gina Hinojosa, Vikki Goodwin, all of whom are Democrats running for statewide seats.
Back in 2018, Rosenthal was facing Gary Elkins, a Republican who had held the seat for 24 years. Elkins was unpopular with voters, accused of predatory lending and facing misdemeanor criminal charges. There are similarities in the campaign against French, Rosenthal says.
“I ran a positive campaign on the issues and my vision,” Rosenthal said of the 2018 campaign. “It’s similar this time. It’s a midterm election year and it feels very similar to the blue wave environment we had in 2018 although I would say this one has an even more substantial backlash to the [presidential] administration.
“Also, the Republicans are giving us a lot of material to work with: economic policies, high prices, undermining our public schools. It’s organized money versus organized people.”
Rosenthal said the only thing he and French agree on is that the name “Railroad Commission” is a misnomer, since the panel doesn’t actually have anything to do with railroads.
“The whole exercise here is to get as many people as we can to learn about this and pay attention,” he said. “The oil and gas industry is the backbone of our economy, especially in our area. We believe the industry can be profitable and vital and still operate responsibly, and at the same time we can be making major strides in improving our energy infrastructure and addressing some of the environmental catastrophes across the state. What we need to do that is to upset the status quo on this commission. That’s my goal.”
In a press release issued in November 2025, French highlighted his early years in Midland, raised by a father who was an “all-American wildcatter,” a term for an independent prospector who drills exploratory wells in areas not known to have oil or gas reserves.
“He has fought the radical Left relentlessly, refusing to cave to pressure,” French’s press release states. “From local nonprofits supporting the invasion of Texas to DEI, transgenderism, and Islamic radicalism, Chairman French refuses to back down.
He now turns his fight to the Texas Railroad Commission to defend the State of Texas and its crown jewel, the oil and gas industry.”
But French couldn’t help himself from bringing up Islam in his campaign announcement.
“Texas oil and gas made America great and literally fueled the fight for freedom across the world,” he said. “With Iran and radical Islamists attacking our allies in the Middle East, the Chinese Communist Party pushing its agenda worldwide, and the radical Green New Scam artists waging war on domestic energy production, our state needs a strong leader who will fight back.”
The Texas Railroad Commission is composed of three commissioners, each elected for six-year terms on a staggered schedule. The job pays an annual salary of about $141,000.
