Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) says he won’t vote for Bo French, the Republican nominee for the powerful post of Texas railroad commissioner, because of his “racist” online comments.
Page A2From§Eachthe supper edition — 17 September 2026
Cornyn and Rove decline to vote for the GOP's own nominee; his defenders number zero.
As it ran on the front
Bo French wanted a promotion. On Sept. 14 he was running for the Texas Railroad Commission — The Hill calls it a "powerful post," and NBC calls it the office that regulates Texas' oil and gas industry — on the strength of a social media post showing South Asian students at a University of Texas football game, framed to suggest they were taking over the student section. Texas Republicans didn't wait for Election Day to answer him. That Sunday, state lawmakers called the post racist. The fight didn't stay contained to French's own race, either: Texas Senate candidates Ken Paxton and James Talarico sparred over the same post, which meant a nominee for an oil-and-gas regulator had become a live issue in a different statewide contest. By the end of that day, NBC had counted several prominent Texas Republicans who had condemned him.
Three days later the count climbed the ballot itself. Sen. John Cornyn said he won't vote for French, calling him "an embarrassment to the Republican Party." GOP strategist Karl Rove said the same thing the same day. That's a sitting U.S. senator and the strategist the party listens to, both telling reporters, on the record, they won't vote for their own party's nominee for statewide office.…
…(cont) Add up what the four items actually give you. Republicans condemning French: state lawmakers on Sunday, several more counted by NBC that same day, then Cornyn, then Rove three days after. Republicans defending him, in these same four items: zero. Count it yourself — the column isn't rounding up.
French is still on the ballot. What's changed is who's willing to stand next to the name. The party's own senator and its own strategist have both said, in public, that they would rather leave a statewide seat to chance than vote for the man their own voters had already nominated. That's not a scandal getting managed quietly in a back room — it's a press release. And somewhere in Texas, the voters who actually picked French are being told, by their own party, that they got it wrong, after the fact, in front of the cameras.
The ballot line still says French. The line of Republicans standing behind it is a lot shorter than the one walking away.
“You know something's off when the party that put French on the ballot needs two of its own out front saying they won't vote for him. That's not a rogue-candidate story, it's a vetting story — the screening happens after voters already picked him, not before, because condemning him after the fact plays better than a background check would have. The oil and gas seat's still open, and the party that just walked away from its own nominee still wants your vote for the next one.”
“This is accountability working exactly as designed — the moment French crossed a line, Cornyn and Rove said so, in public, no committee needed. Sure, Rove's just a strategist and Cornyn's just one senator, but two guys saying it counts as the party policing itself... did I say "just two guys"? I meant the whole party stands behind this, which is why so many of them keep having to say it out loud.”
Earlier in this story
- Mayor mourns second accused murderer in three weeks, leaves out both victims By Chip · the early bird edition, 17 September 2026
The receipts
GOP strategist Karl Rove also said he wouldn't vote for French.
· Texas Republicans condemn railroad commissioner candidate over post about Asian students, calling it racist from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Paxton and Talarico spar over racially charged post about Texas college students from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· Texas Republicans call out railroad commissioner candidate over racist post from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.