Texas Railroad Commission candidate Bo French faces bipartisan backlash over racially charged X post

The Republican candidate running to head the Texas Railroad Commission is facing bipartisan backlash after sharing a racially-charged post on Sunday, less than two months away from the midterm election.

Bo French shared a photo on X, showing a group of students cheering on the University of Texas at Austin during Saturday's game against Ohio State. The photo French shared showed a group of students at the game who were not white.

CBS News Texas has reached out to French for further comment.

Negative reaction to French's post from political opponents was swift. Jon Rosenthal, who is French's Democratic opponent, said French "spent Sunday morning sorting our student section by skin color."

Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic candidate in Texas' gubernatorial race, declared French as "unfit to serve".

Republicans react to Bo French's post

Several Republicans also took issue with French's post. Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who lost his primary bid to current state Attorney General Ken Paxton, questioned, "Are other Republican elected officials going to condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized."

State Rep. Jared Patterson of Frisco also rebuked French's sentiments with a longer post.

"There is absolutely nothing Christian or conservative about looking at a crowd of young Texans at a college football game, seeing the color of their skin, and declaring that they are a 'problem'," Patterson said, in part. "We can have serious debates about our nation's immigration laws. I have strong views about immigration policy, and Americans have every right to demand changes to federal law. But opposing an immigration policy does not give anyone license to demean people because of their race or ethnicity."

Another notable conservative voice who decried French's post was Dustin Burrows, Speaker of the Texas House. He called for French to delete it.

There was support for French's sentiments as well. Savannah Hernandez, a contributor for Turning Point USA, said French is "1000% correct".

Support also came from Jake Lloyd Colglazier, identified in his X profile as the president of the Fort Worth Young Republicans. Colglazier said French's post was "perfectly reasonable" and slammed the immigration system.

What are Bo French's views on immigration?

French has revealed more about his views on immigration in recent social media posts. On Sept. 8, French reposted a graphic video that appears to show a beheading in Nigeria. The caption on the video claims that a group of Muslim extremists kidnapped and beheaded a Christian man for refusing to convert to Islam.

In other posts, French has called for mass deportations and major overhauls to immigration policy. In one post, shared on Sept. 2, French called for the deportation of left-wing streamer Hasan Piker.

How have others in Texas responded?

As of publication, neither the University of Texas at Austin nor the University of Texas System has offered a response to French's remarks about the student crowd at the game. The Texas GOP has also not yet offered comment.

Gov. Greg Abbott responded to a request for comment from CBS News, saying, "That is not my message. A selective picture of Longhorn fans celebrating our biggest home victory-ever-actually shows a way that Texans unite. We all support our college football teams. The way we win the state is the same way we win football games. We unite under the brand of Texas. That doesn't mean that Texas cannot also lead in having the toughest immigration laws of any state in America and freezing H1B visas at our universities."

Paxton offered the following statement, taking aim at his Democratic opponent James Talarico:

"I condemn racism in all its forms, including James Talarico saying white men are America's top terror threat and that he prays to overcome his own 'whiteness,' whatever that means. Only one person in this race has a history of dividing Texans by race, and it's James Talarico. 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." 

CBS News Texas will update this story as further responses are shared.