Bo French, the Republican nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission, has been widely condemned by members of his own party after sharing a post on X depicting non-white University of Texas students celebrating the school's victory over Ohio State, which he claimed was evidence that state institutions had been "overrun by illegal aliens and foreign nationals." The backlash matters because it highlights an internal rift within the Texas Republican Party, with senior figures publicly denouncing racism within their own ranks ahead of French's statewide campaign.

Senator John Cornyn led the criticism, warning that tolerating such rhetoric risks normalising intolerance and could cause the party to "self-destruct." State Representative Jared Patterson called the post "racist" and pointed out that the Railroad Commission regulates oil and gas, not immigration policy, while Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows and Representatives Lacey Hull and Jeff Leach also urged French to delete it, with Leach sharing a photo of his own son at the same game to illustrate the diversity of ordinary students being targeted.