Last summer, Republicans across Texas were trying to force Bo French out of a party leadership position after he made disparaging online comments about Muslims and Jews.
Now he’s vying to become one of the most important U.S. energy regulators.
The longtime GOP activist made it into a primary runoff for a spot on the Railroad Commission of Texas. In May, he will face incumbent Commissioner Jim Wright, who was endorsed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
The winner will have a high-profile pulpit to discuss energy policy in an important state — and real authority to oversee polices that affect oil and gas production, emissions and development. The Railroad Commission isn’t focused on cultural issues, but French spent the primary playing up his opposition to Islam and to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. He also vowed to end what he described as Chinese Communist influence in the oil industry and said the commission should create a “pro-family credentialing program for Texas oil and gas producers.”
“This is a very powerful statewide position, so obviously I’m going to continue talking about the things that our voters care about to help drive the narrative in Texas on these issues,” French said this week in an interview.
The Railroad Commission no longer oversees railroads, though efforts to change its name have failed over the years. Instead, it regulates the oil, gas, pipeline and mining industries in Texas, which gives it sway over roughly 40 percent of U.S. oil production and 29 percent of gas production.
The three commissioners are elected statewide — often with campaign funding from the companies they oversee — and the job is frequently viewed as a stepping stone to other political offices in Texas. Each seat has a six-year term, with elections staggered.
“French’s profile as a candidate aligns with the more militant wing of the MAGA wing of the Texas GOP, and he benefits from the publicity around his more controversial comments,” Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, said in an email.
Henson said French was “helped by the fact that, despite the importance of the Railroad Commission in governance and the economy, most voters typically don’t pay much attention to the race and tend to know very little about the candidates.”
Over the years, the commission has fought back against former President Joe Biden’s green energy plans and promoted President Donald Trump’s “energy dominance” agenda. It’s also been at the center of environmental fights over oil and gas production.
This year’s Republican primary drew five candidates, including Wright and French. Wright won 32.1 percent of the vote, and French had 31.7 percent, according to preliminary numbers from the Texas secretary of state. None of the other GOP candidates collected more than 20 percent.
Whoever wins the May 26 primary runoff will take on Democratic state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, who holds an engineering degree from the University of Texas and has a background in oil and gas development.
French, 56, said he saw polls in January that showed all the candidates with low name recognition. He already had good relations with conservative groups around the state and spent most of the campaign reaching out to them.
“Fortunately, those grassroots organizations publish their voter guides and recommended lists for their conservative followers to lean on,” French said. “I think that made a big difference.”
French’s father, Bob French, was part of the post-World War II generation of wildcatters who helped cement Texas as the country’s oil capital. The younger French grew up in Fort Worth and Midland before attending Texas Christian University.
When he first ran for a seat in the state Legislature in 2016, French took on a family friend, state Rep. Charlie Geren, a conservative businessman who owns a barbecue restaurant in Fort Worth.
Geren easily beat French in the 2016 primary and again in 2018.
Online outrage
By 2024, French was chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party. The county, which includes Fort Worth and its suburbs, has a population of more than 2 million and is the only big urban county in Texas that’s reliably Republican.
French quickly made headlines and earned some GOP ire for a string of social media posts using terms such as “homo” and “retard.” Then French posted a poll last June on X asking, “Who is a bigger threat to America?” and inviting respondents to pick Muslims or Jews.
The response was quick. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a leader of the GOP’s conservative wing, called on French to resign. So did Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and Texas Sen. John Cornyn, both Republicans. The Council on American-Islamic Relations called the post “deeply offensive and inflammatory.” French, however, stayed in his Tarrant County GOP job until November, when he announced his bid for a spot on the Railroad Commission.
French said this week that the post was misunderstood — and that he was trying to make a point about antisemitism, arguing that people who worry about his criticism of Muslims are themselves prejudiced against Jewish people.
He added, though, that he still considers Islam a threat. Asked for examples, he said unnamed Muslim leaders were planning a religious war.
“Every place I went on the campaign trail and every group I spoke to, I would ask the voters, ‘Are you worried about the Islamification of Texas?’” he said. “And 100 percent of the people would raise their hands every single time.”
Wright himself was a political newcomer in 2020 when he defeated a well-funded incumbent in the Republican primary. At the time, he owned oil field waste disposal firms that were facing lawsuits and state fines. And Wright has criticized renewable energy projects without citing evidence or by using information disputed by wind and solar advocates.
In this year’s primary, Wright played up the commission’s role in energy development and his record of working on thorny regulatory problems. He also spoke about the importance of preserving oil and gas jobs. The Railroad Commission voted last year to impose new rules on oil field waste disposal, seeking to tamp down concerns after high-profile pollution cases.
French said the waste rules were the largest increase in regulations in the commission’s history, and said they raised costs for oil producers.
“Guess what that does? That starts hurting jobs in Texas,” he said.
Wright, 64, said French’s rhetoric is a disservice to the commission. Oil production in Texas plummeted during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it has grown steadily since then — hitting 5.8 million barrels a day last year, according to federal data.
There’s no Islamic invasion or communist influence in the oil patch, Wright said in an interview.
“Let’s continue to make oil and gas successful for Texas. Let’s make sure we do it responsibly. I haven’t changed,” he said. “What scares me is, a vote for French in November will be a vote for the Democratic opponent.”
Wright has a chance to win the runoff if he can pick up endorsements from the other candidates in the race, and from statewide politicians like Abbott and Patrick, said longtime political science professor Cal Jillson at Southern Methodist University.
“I think it is incumbent upon people who have identified Bo French as a threat to the image of the Republican Party to step up,” he said.
