- Bo French, who is challenging incumbent Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright in the Republican Runoff, has given nearly $400,000 to over twenty newly formed PACs for slate mailers to boost his candidacy
- French has been condemned by Republican leaders, including Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, for his use of inflammatory rhetoric
- Wright has been endorsed by Governor Abbott, Lt. Governor Patrick, and the two other Republican Railroad Commissioners
A Republican candidate for Railroad Commissioner, whom the State’s top Republican leaders strongly oppose, has helped fund endorsement slates published by over twenty entities to boost his candidacy.
Bo French, a businessman challenging incumbent Republican Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright in the upcoming Republican Runoff, has made approximately $400,000 in donations to over 20 Political Action Committees to publish slate mailers endorsing his candidacy. The Texas Railroad Commission regulates the State’s oil and gas industry.
Most of the Political Action Committees that received donations from French were formed earlier this year, and French’s campaign is either the largest – and in sole cases, sole – donor to the majority of those entities during the campaign finance reporting period for the Republican Runoff.
Additionally, French’s campaign received a $150,000 in-kind contribution from the newly formed Texas Conservative Voters PAC in the form of advertising in The Link Letter, a for-profit political slate mailer.
Political Action Committees that have received funding from French over the past month include:
- Central Texas Conservatives
- Coastal Bend Conservatives PAC
- Texas Patriot Press
- Panhandle Conservatives
- Falls County Conservatives
- Sweet Tea Patriots PAC
- Hill County Conservatives
- Gillespie County Patriots
- Erath County Conservatives
- East Texas Conservative Voter Guide PAC
- Wise County Conservatives
- Dallas County Conservatives
- Fannin Conservative Patriots
- Liberty County Conservatives PAC
- Kendall County Conservative Republicans
- Collin County Heritage
- Wilco Conservative Voters Guide
- East Texas Conservative Voter Guide PAC
- West Texas Patriots
- Hood County Patriots
- Denton County Patriots Fund
- Montgomery County Conservative Alliance
- Palo Pinto County Conservatives PAC
- Kaufman County GOP PAC
Texas Patriot Press, which published a magazine-style slate mailer across Texas featuring the name and likeness of former Republican Party of Texas Chairman Matt Rinaldi, received $252,500.08 from French’s campaign. The campaign of Texas Attorney General candidate Chip Roy donated $300,000 to Texas Patriot Press.
The French and Roy campaigns were the sole donors to Texas Patriot Press, which endorsed both campaigns.
French, who formerly served as Chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, has a long history of using incendiary rhetoric that other Republicans have condemned as racist and antisemitic.
“Bo French’s words do not reflect my values nor the values of the Republican Party. Antisemitism and religious bigotry have no place in Texas. I am calling for the immediate resignation and replacement of [French] as [Tararant County Republican Party] Chairman,” said Lt. Governor Dan Patrick in a tweet last year after French posted an online poll asking whether “Jews” or “Muslims” posed “a bigger threat to America.”
Other elected Republicans, including Congressman Craig Goldman, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, and State Senators Phil King and Tan Parker, echoed Patrick’s call for French’s ouster.
At a campaign event in Deer Park earlier this week, Governor Greg Abbott – who has endorsed Wright for re-election – took aim at French and expressed concern that French could imperil the Texas oil and gas industry.
“[French] doesn’t know anything about oil and gas. His agenda would wreck the miracle we have in producing more oil and gas than ever before,” exclaimed Abbott.
In addition to endorsements from Abbott and Patrick, Wright is also endorsed by his two Republican colleagues on the Railroad Commission – Wayne Christian and Christi Craddick – as well as many Republican state legislators.
French’s campaign is endorsed by the True Texas Project, whose leaders have frequently posted antisemitic comments online.
“Remember a couple of years ago when Thomas Massie told Tucker that every congressman has an Aipac babysitter? Then Massie came out against the Iranian War For Israel and now Jewish billionaires are spending a record amount of money against him,” said True Texas Project board member and PAC President Fred McCarty in a recent Facebook post about Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie.
After Massie was defeated in the Republican Primary by his Trump-endorsed opponent Ed Gallrein, Fred McCarty wrote, “The pro-Israel lobby spent $32 million to defeat Thomas Massie. Ed Gallrein voters should be dumped in the Gaza Strip and left to fend for themselves.”
The winner of the Republican Runoff for Railroad Commissioner will face Democrat Jon Rosenthal, a current State Representative, in November.
