'He's an embarrassment': John Cornyn confirms he won't back 'racist' GOP candidate

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) confirmed on Thursday that he won't be voting for Bo French, the embattled GOP candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner.

"He's an embarrassment to the Republican Party, and he's going to drag the whole ticket down because of his racist comments," Cornyn told Ramsey Touchberry of the Washington Examiner. Asked whether he will vote for his Democratic opponent, state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, Cornyn said he wasn't sure, and "I may just leave it blank."

Cornyn, who was ousted from his bid for another term by state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a day before, had taken to X to repost an op-ed by longtime Texas GOP strategist Karl Rove, who explained why he would be voting for Rosenthal.

The Texas Railroad Commission oversees the state's oil and gas industry. It has long been controlled by Republicans and GOP-aligned interests, as with all other statewide offices since the 1990s.

French, who previously chaired the Tarrant County Republican Party, has built a lengthy record of inflammatory comments targeting racial, religious, and ethnic groups.

As county chair, French repeatedly posted Islamophobic content, accusing state Rep. Salman Bhojani, the first Muslim elected to the Texas Legislature, of "furthering jihad" and calling for his denaturalization and deportation. He also claimed a Fort Worth imam was involved in "pro-terrorist activity" and, in 2025, ran a social media poll asking his followers whether Jews or Muslims posed a bigger threat to America, prompting Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to call for his resignation from the county party post.

In October 2025, he called for deporting a group of Native American protesters at Mount Rushmore, referring to them using a dehumanizing slur. A year earlier, in 2024, the Texas Tribune reported he'd repeatedly used slurs targeting gay people and people with disabilities to attack political opponents on social media.

Most recently, French ignited a bipartisan firestorm in September 2026 after posting a photo of University of Texas students of color celebrating a football win, writing that the "problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined" and that Americans "have been displaced by foreigners." The remarks drew swift condemnation from Republicans, including Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Rep. Jeff Leach, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, and outgoing Sen. John Cornyn, but French refused to back down.