Against Bo French-ism

Bo French was just one among the many losers in last Tuesday’s statewide Democratic sweep in Texas. French, who was running for a seat on the powerful Texas Railroad Commission (which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry), had attracted public outrage for an X post of a photo of Indian students at a UT Austin football game. “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this,” French wrote. “I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.” It’s unclear whether French’s remarks were what cost him his election. Gov. Greg Abbott lost by roughly the same margin, and Senate nominee Ken Paxton by nearly twice as much. But all three performed worse than other statewide Republicans. And French measurably underperformed in South Asian areas, specifically. For some, though, the obvious cause of Republicans’ comprehensive defeat was the demographic change that had alarmed French in the first place.

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