Texas GOP candidate Bo French faces backlash over past calls for public executions

A Republican candidate for statewide office in Texas regularly called for public executions in social media posts that he has since deleted. Bo French, who is running to head the Texas Railroad Commission, posted about publicly executing political opponents including President Obama, CNN reports. The posts span six years, with the most recent post in February 2025, in which French mentioned hangings, gallows, and other forms of public executions. Those posts were either deleted by French or removed for violating X’s rules, though it remains unclear. French also made similar posts on an account he used in unsuccessful campaigns for the Texas statehouse in 2016 and 2018, before the account was suspended. In 2020, while President Trump was under investigation for his campaign’s ties to the Russian government, French called for the death penalty for “Obama conspirators,” including then House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff. “It’s time we drop the hammer on these treasonous bastards and punish them with the full measure of justice. #HangEmHigh,” French posted. He also called for Obama’s death using the same hashtag.“The penalty for treason used to be death. Even for a former president. #HangEmHigh,” French wrote. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and the state’s Republican Party have thus far refused to disavow French.The Texas Railroad Commission has the important role of regulating the state’s oil and gas industry, and French ended up winning the Republican nomination in May over incumbent Republican commissioner Jim Wright, who had the endorsements of Republican Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and House Speaker Dustin Burrows. French’s penchant for capital punishment is only one of his many abhorrent stances. He has openly espoused anti-Muslim views, asking his social media followers who the “bigger threat” to America is, Muslims or Jews, before clarifying that he believed Islam “is the bigger threat.” He wants to “end DEI” and “kick radical Islam out of Texas Energy.” He’s called for deporting 100 million people from the U.S. “I’m going to say something that’s going to make some people uncomfortable: The problem is, we call it Sharia [law], but the problem is actually Islam,” French said at a panel discussion titled “Don’t Sharia My Texas” at the the Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine, Texas, in March. “If they can infiltrate Texas and conquer Texas, then what’s going to happen? They’re going to be able to control the United States.”Earlier this month, French drew a backlash for a racist post about the student section at a University of Texas football game, saying the racially diverse student fanbase was a “problem” that “is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” That post led Republican strategist and former adviser to President George W. Bush, Karl Rove, to say he would vote for French’s Democratic opponent, Jon Rosenthal, and for Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn to call him “an embarrassment to the Republican Party” who is “going to drag the whole ticket down because of his racist comments.” These latest revelations won’t help French, and certainly won’t help Texas Republicans in a year where the party is polling historically low.

Bo French, who is running to lead a state agency, has in the past posted controversial and racist statements onlineBo French, a Texas Republican running to lead a powerful state agency, has a history of making controversial social media posts, including calling for the public execution of Democratic leaders, according to a recent investigation from CNN’s KFile team.French, who is running to lead Texas’s railroad commission, has recently faced criticism from members of his own party after making a racist post on social media. Powerful Republicans, including the Texas senator John Cornyn, said they would not support French in the upcoming election. Continue reading...