There are political flip-flops, and then there is whatever Texas Republicans are doing with Bo French.
Bo French is the Republican nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission, arguably one of the most powerful energy regulatory positions in America. Despite its wonderfully confusing name, the Railroad Commission does not regulate railroads. It regulates Texas oil and natural gas production, pipelines, natural-gas utilities, liquefied petroleum gas, critical natural-gas infrastructure, and coal and uranium surface mining. It has responsibilities involving drilling, abandoned wells, pipeline safety, waste disposal and other issues that can directly affect the bottom lines of energy companies operating in Texas.
So naturally, Bo French has spent a remarkable amount of time talking about Muslims.
Not orphan wells.
Not produced water.
Not pipeline safety.
Not methane.
Not earthquakes caused by wastewater injection.
Muslims, and immigrants. And DEI. And LGBTQ people. And now, apparently, the racial makeup of the student section at a University of Texas football game.
I wish I were exaggerating.
I am not.
Even French’s own campaign website currently lists “Stop the Islamic Invasion of Texas” as one of his Railroad Commission issues, alongside his promise to “cut the stranglehold” of regulation on oil and gas operators. Yes, a candidate for the agency responsible for regulating oil wells has somehow made Islam a Railroad Commission issue. If you know anything about the oil industry you know that those in the oil industry have to work with people from all over the world, including Islamic countries.
But here is what makes the Bo French story much bigger than Bo French.
Texas Republican leaders knew exactly who he was. They publicly condemned him.
Greg Abbott told Republican voters that French didn’t understand oil and gas and could wreck the industry.
Dan Patrick called his rhetoric religious bigotry and demanded he resign as Tarrant Party GOP Chair.
Republican elected officials lined up behind his primary opponent.
Then Bo French won.
And suddenly? Well, apparently all those deeply held principles had an expiration date of approximately 11:59 p.m. on runoff night.
Welcome to Texas politics.
June 25, 2025: “Jews” or “Muslims”?
Our story begins before French was even a candidate for Railroad Commissioner.
On June 25, 2025, while serving as chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, French posted a poll on X asking:
“Who is a bigger threat to America?”
There were two choices:
Jews.
Muslims.
No, really. The original post was later deleted, but its original X URL and contemporaneous reporting are preserved here: San Antonio Current’s report preserving the poll.
The response from Republicans at the time was fierce.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said French’s words did not represent his values or those of the Republican Party and declared that antisemitism and religious bigotry had no place in Texas. Patrick called for French to resign as Tarrant County GOP chairman. Other Republican leaders joined the condemnation.
Remember Dan Patrick’s outrage. We’re going to need it later.
French followed the poll by explaining that his view was that “radical islam wants to conquer us.”
And that wasn’t the end of it. It was basically the opening credits.
August 11, 2025: French calls for a Muslim Texas legislator to be “denaturalized and deported”
Less than two months later, French turned his attention to Texas Rep. Salman Bhojani.
Bhojani is an American citizen, a Texas state representative, and one of the first Muslim Americans elected to the Texas Legislature.
French called him an “anti-American democrat,” accused him of trying to “further jihad,” and publicly called on federal officials to “denaturalize and deport” him.
KERA preserved the post and reported that French also published locations where Bhojani purportedly owned property. Bhojani said his family subsequently received threats. French also asked whether the law should be changed to prohibit foreign-born Americans from holding elected office.
Again, this happened in August 2025, a year ago. That date matters.
Because French didn’t announce his Railroad Commission campaign until November. In other words, virtually every major donor who subsequently financed Bo French’s statewide campaign had the opportunity to know what kind of political candidate they were funding.
Nobody can credibly claim that the June poll and August attacks were surprise revelations discovered after the checks cleared.
Then Bo French announces for Railroad Commissioner. And the checks begin.
This is where the story gets really interesting.
French announced his Railroad Commission campaign in November 2025. By then, the “Jews or Muslims” poll had been statewide news. Dan Patrick had publicly condemned him. French had demanded the denaturalization and deportation of a Muslim state representative.
And then money from people tied to oil, gas and mineral interests began arriving.
On November 20, Mark Adamson, whose campaign filing identifies his employer as TSI Flow Products, contributed $20,000. TSI operates in oilfield equipment and manufacturing.
On December 4, Richard “Dick” Moncrief, identified as an executive with Moncrief Oil International, contributed $15,000.
On December 11, the Texas Freedom Fund for the Advancement of Justice gave French $150,000.
On December 16, Miles and Laurie Boldrick contributed $25,000. Miles Boldrick’s filing identifies him as owner of Statewide Minerals Company, which is categorized as an oil-and-gas exploration business. Boldrick has also previously contributed to Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick, Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton.
That last part is important. The Railroad Commission regulates the industry. People making money from that industry are helping finance the person seeking a seat regulating it.
Campaign contributions by themselves do not prove corruption or a quid pro quo. Let’s be clear about that.
But Texans are absolutely entitled to ask whether the regulator will be accountable to the public or particularly attentive to the regulated businesses and wealthy interests financing his campaign.
And French has given voters another reason to ask.
His campaign platform explicitly promises to cut regulations on oil and gas operators and says he will “put the Texas oil and gas industry first.”
Put those two facts next to each other.
Oil and mineral interests help finance candidate. Candidate promises to cut regulations affecting oil and gas operators.
That isn’t proof of corruption. It is, however, one hell of a reason to pay attention.
February 2026: French won’t enter an Islamic center
By February, French’s campaign had become increasingly focused on Islam.
He backed out of a bipartisan candidate event because it was being held at an Islamic center and later characterized the “Islamization of Texas” as a danger.
Meanwhile, his campaign financing continued.
The Texas Freedom Fund gave French $100,000 on February 6, $25,000 on February 13, $100,000 on February 17 and another $8,500 on February 27.
James Stanton, an attorney, contributed $15,000 on February 5.
Judy Messet contributed $10,000 on February 18.
Patriot Mobile Action contributed $15,000 on February 20.
And investor Alex Williamson, later identified in filings as president of ANW Minerals, began what would become more than $100,000 in contributions.
Again, the rhetoric and racists comments on X wasn’t scaring the money away.
March 2026: Follow the Dunn and Wilks money
Now we arrive at two names Texans should know very well:
Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks.
The Texas Tribune reported that the Texas Freedom Fund for the Advancement of Justice, formerly Defend Texas Liberty, was predominantly financed by West Texas oil billionaires Dunn and Wilks. By the end of February, that PAC had already given French $225,000 directly and spent another $150,000 advertising his candidacy.
That PAC alone accounted for more than half of the $637,139 French had raised from the beginning of his campaign through late February.
Think about that. One political network, predominantly financed by two West Texas oil billionaires, supplied more than half of the money French raised during the opening phase of his campaign.
And French was running for the commission that regulates the Texas oil and gas industry.
On March 5, Alex Williamson, identified as president of ANW Minerals, contributed another $50,000.
Five days later, Luke and Lindsy Dunn contributed $50,000. The campaign filing identifies Luke Dunn as an executive with CrownQuest Operating.
And then French went to CPAC.
March 27, 2026: “Don’t Sharia My Texas”
At CPAC Texas in Grapevine, French appeared on a panel whose actual title was:
“Don’t Sharia My Texas.”
This is not satire. Satire is becoming increasingly difficult to practice in Texas because reality keeps stealing the good material. At that event, French said Republicans should more openly embrace Islamophobia.
He also called for the United States to deport 100 million people.
There were an estimated 14 million unauthorized immigrants in the country in 2023, meaning a deportation program approaching French’s number could not be limited to people living in the country illegally. It would necessarily sweep far beyond that population.
And here is where the donor timeline becomes incredibly important.
Because if anyone wants to argue that French’s donors didn’t know what they were supporting before March 27, that argument becomes extraordinarily difficult afterward.
It was national-quality political news. The candidate said it publicly. He said it at CPAC. He said Republicans should embrace Islamophobia.
And then...
The money accelerated.
On April 6, Alex Williamson gave French another $52,050.80.
On April 7, Texas Conservative Voters PAC gave him $150,000.
On April 27, the Texas Freedom Fund gave him another $100,000.
On May 5, former Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton gave French $25,000.
On May 7, Texans United for a Conservative Majority PAC gave him $100,000.
That PAC deserves an asterisk approximately the size of Midland County.
Its contribution records show that Timothy and Terri Dunn gave it $5 million in June 2025, another $200,000 in February 2026 and another $150,000 in May 2026, in addition to an earlier $125,000 contribution. The PAC then gave $100,000 to Bo French.
This is why looking only at a candidate’s direct donor list can be misleading.
Money can travel through PACs. And when you follow the money behind the PACs, the same names start appearing again.
Dunn.
Wilks.
West Texas energy wealth.
Hard-right political organizations.
Bo French.
On May 11, Farris and JoAnn Wilks themselves contributed approximately $25,000 directly to French.
On May 11, the Texas Freedom Fund contributed another $40,000.
On May 19, Texas Conservative Voters PAC contributed another $25,000.
On May 21, investor Douglas Scharbauer contributed two reported $25,000 entries.
This wasn’t donors reluctantly sticking with French despite his rhetoric.
We cannot know individual donors’ motives unless they tell us, and a contribution does not prove agreement with every statement a candidate makes. But we can say something much simpler and much more defensible:
They knew.
The statements were public.
The controversy was public.
The condemnation was public.
And the checks came afterward.
And then there is Double Eagle
On June 30, John Sellers, identified in French’s campaign filing as co-CEO of Double Eagle, contributed $25,000.
That same day, Tara and Cody Campbell contributed another $25,000, with Cody Campbell likewise identified as co-CEO of Double Eagle.
Double Eagle Energy isn’t some neighborhood oil-change shop.
It is an independent oil and natural-gas company focused on development and production in the Permian Basin. Double Eagle says its fourth iteration completed a partial sale to Diamondback Energy in April 2025 for $4.1 billion. An earlier DoublePoint transaction sold assets to Pioneer Natural Resources for $6.4 billion.
So two people associated with leadership of a major Permian oil-and-gas company contributed a combined $50,000 to a candidate seeking a seat on the agency with primary regulatory jurisdiction over Texas oil and natural gas.
Again, perfectly legitimate question:
“Who does your Railroad Commissioner work for?”
Because Texans deserve a regulator whose first responsibility is to Texas, not a regulator whose campaign owes enormous debts of gratitude to people and organizations connected to the industry he is supposed to regulate.
Meanwhile, Republicans were warning us about Bo French
Here’s the part that would be hilarious if the job weren’t so important. During the Republican runoff, some of the biggest names in Texas Republican politics tried to stop French.
Gov. Greg Abbott supported incumbent Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick supported Wright.
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows supported Wright.
Republican legislators supported Wright.
The Texas Oil and Gas Association’s PAC supported Wright. Exxon and Chevron also contributed to Wright’s campaign.
Abbott’s criticism of French was particularly brutal. Abbott said French “doesn’t know anything about oil and gas” and warned that putting him on the Railroad Commission could “wreck” Texas oil production.
Read that again.
That wasn’t Jon Rosenthal saying it. That wasn’t the Democratic Party saying it. That was Greg Abbott, the Republican governor of Texas, telling Republican primary voters that the Republican who is now their nominee doesn’t know anything about oil and gas and could wreck the Texas oil industry.
Seems relevant for the guy we’re thinking about putting on...
checks notes
...the Texas oil and gas regulatory commission.
Then Bo French won.
French narrowly defeated Wright. And suddenly the Republican Party discovered the healing power of political amnesia. Abbott congratulated French and said Republicans would remain united for November.
Dan Patrick, who had previously demanded French resign because of his “religious bigotry,” apparently had what French described as a “very nice call” with him and offered his support.
So let’s review.
Dan Patrick in 2025:
“Religious bigotry has no place in the Republican Party. Resign.”
Dan Patrick in 2026:
“Congratulations. Let’s win.”
Greg Abbott during the primary:
“This man doesn’t know anything about oil and gas and could wreck the industry.”"
Greg Abbott after the primary:
“Republicans unite!”
That isn’t a change in Bo French. Bo French didn’t moderate. He didn’t apologize and spend a year demonstrating personal growth. He went in the opposite direction.
What changed was that Republicans needed his vote in November. Apparently the moral emergency ended when the primary did.
And French admitted the culture war was the strategy
After winning the Republican nomination, French explained why he had spent a campaign for oil-and-gas regulator talking about subjects having virtually nothing to do with regulating oil and gas.
He said:
“I ran a campaign because I had to win a Republican primary.”
French specifically cited talking about the “Islamification of Texas,” DEI and LGBTQ issues and said his victory demonstrated that Republican grassroots voters wanted candidates fighting on those issues.
Well. There it is.
Bo French essentially told Texans that culture-war politics helped him win the Republican primary for an energy regulatory agency.
Meanwhile, Texas has thousands of abandoned oil and gas wells. The state is dealing with enormous quantities of produced wastewater. Texans are worried about pipelines, pollution, earthquakes, groundwater, energy reliability and the future of an industry that drives a huge portion of our economy.
Those are Railroad Commission issues.
Whether a Muslim family in Plano follows Islamic dietary rules? Not so much.
August 24, 2026: “I want them all gone”
French kept going.
On August 24, he posted:
“I voted for mass deportations but I will settle for less as long as Ilhan Omar is among them. Just kidding. I want them all gone.”
The Houston Press preserved the post and reported that some of French’s other controversial posts had already been deleted. Read the preserved August 24 post and reporting.
Again, we’re discussing a candidate for Railroad Commissioner. I keep reminding you because apparently someone needs to remind Bo French.
September 10, 2026: Greg Abbott discovers Sharia law
And then something very revealing happened at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas last week.
Gov. Greg Abbott stood onstage and declared:
“We will fully ban Sharia law in Texas.”
Read the Texas Tribune’s convention coverage.
There’s a rather inconvenient problem with this terrifying Sharia-law takeover. There is no separate Sharia government operating Texas. The Railroad Commission isn’t enforcing Sharia. The Legislature isn’t governed by Sharia. Texas courts don’t get to throw away the Texas Constitution and substitute religious law.
Religious Americans may voluntarily follow religious teachings or use private religious mediation and arbitration subject to American law. Christians do it. Jewish Americans do it. Muslim Americans do it.
But religious law does not supersede the United States Constitution or Texas law.
So what exactly is Greg Abbott saving us from? He just wants us to hate a new group of people. He’s all about the hate. Greg Abbott is truly the devil.
And why, after condemning Bo French’s rhetoric and warning Texans about him, are Republican leaders now campaigning on a theme French used to win his primary?
That is the question.
Because Bo French may have taught Texas Republicans a lesson.
Not that the rhetoric was wrong.
That it worked.
September 13, 2026: Bo French looks at UT students and sees a “problem”And just when you thought we had reached the bottom of this particular political barrel, somebody apparently brought excavation equipment.
On September 13, French posted a photograph of University of Texas students celebrating the Longhorns’ comeback win over Ohio State.
Many of the young people pictured appeared to be students of color.
French wrote:
“I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”
Here is French’s September 13 X post.
He then argued that Texas institutions had been “overrun by illegal aliens and foreign nationals.”
This time, Republican officials once again rediscovered their outrage.
Sen. John Cornyn condemned the post and asked whether Republican elected officials were going to condemn intolerance and racism or allow it to become normalized.
House Speaker Dustin Burrows told French the post had “crossed the line” and told him to delete it.
Republican Rep. Jared Patterson was even more direct:
“This is racist. It is wrong.”
Rep. Lacey Hull called the post heartbreaking.
Greg Abbott distanced himself from French’s message, saying a photograph of Longhorn fans celebrating actually showed how Texans unite and that people can oppose immigration policies without demeaning people because of their race or ethnicity.
And French? He doubled down. Of course he did.
Republicans, I have a question.
If Bo French is too racist for your Twitter feed... If he is too religiously bigoted to chair a county Republican Party... If he doesn’t understand oil and gas... If Greg Abbott himself believes he could wreck the Texas oil industry...
Why in God’s green Texas are you asking us to make him a Texas Railroad Commissioner?
You cannot simultaneously tell Texans:
“This man’s rhetoric is unacceptable.”
and:
“Please vote to give this man regulatory power over one of the most important industries in the world.”
Pick one!
Because this isn’t a city council seat deciding whether someone’s fence is six inches too tall.
The Railroad Commission oversees an enormous part of the Texas energy economy. Texas produces nearly half of America’s crude oil, and the Commission regulates oil and natural gas, pipelines and other critical energy infrastructure.
Competence matters. Judgment matters. Independence matters. And who finances the regulator matters.
Now follow the money one more time.
French’s campaign financing reads like a tour of the intersection between Texas energy money and hard-right politics.
You have the Texas Freedom Fund, a political organization predominantly financed by oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into French’s candidacy and associated advertising.
You have Luke and Lindsy Dunn, with Luke identified as a CrownQuest Operating executive, contributing $50,000.
You have Farris and JoAnn Wilks contributing another roughly $25,000 directly.
You have Alex Williamson, identified in filings with ANW Minerals and investments, giving more than $100,000 through the contributions visible in the records.
You have Miles and Laurie Boldrick, associated with Statewide Minerals, giving $25,000. Statewide Minerals is identified as an oil-and-gas exploration business.
You have Richard Moncrief of Moncrief Oil International giving $15,000.
You have Mark Adamson of TSI Flow Products giving $20,000.
You have John Sellers and Cody Campbell of Double Eagle, a Permian oil-and-natural-gas company whose predecessor businesses were involved in multibillion-dollar transactions, associated with a combined $50,000 in June 30 contributions.
You have Ryan Sitton, himself a former Texas Railroad Commissioner, giving $25,000.
And you have multiple PACs moving six-figure amounts into the campaign, some of which themselves receive enormous contributions from the same Dunn political network.
That does not prove that any donor purchased a vote. It does not prove an illegal quid pro quo.
But democracy does not require Texans to wait until somebody leaves a briefcase labeled “BRIBE” on a regulator’s desk before asking questions about conflicts of interest.
The appropriate question is much simpler:
“Will the person regulating an industry protect Texans first, or the industry interests helping finance his election?”
Especially when that candidate is simultaneously promising the regulated industry that he intends to cut its regulations.
There is another choice: Jon Rosenthal
And this is where the contrast in this election becomes almost absurdly clear.
Democrat Jon Rosenthal isn’t running for Railroad Commissioner because he discovered oil and gas sometime between the primary filing deadline and Election Day.
Rosenthal is a career oil-field engineer with roughly two decades of industry experience.
The Texas Tribune described the race succinctly: “an oil-field engineer versus an energy trader running on culture wars.”
Rosenthal has said he wants to focus the Railroad Commission race on what the Railroad Commission actually does. Radical concept, I know.
He has talked about energy infrastructure, pollution, orphan wells, the power grid, and protecting Texans while maintaining a strong energy industry. His pitch is that the commission needs technical expertise and accountability rather than another statewide culture-war platform.
You don’t have to agree with Jon Rosenthal on every political issue to recognize the basic job description.
One candidate spent decades working as an oil-field engineer.
The other spent much of his campaign talking about the “Islamification of Texas.”
One wants voters talking about energy.
The other apparently wants voters inspecting the skin color of Longhorn fans.
And Greg Abbott himself already told Texas Republicans which candidate he thought didn’t understand the oil business.
Spoiler alert: It wasn’t Jon Rosenthal.
This election is bigger than Bo French.
Bo French is certainly a candidate. But he’s also a test. A test of whether Republicans actually mean what they say when they condemn bigotry. A test of whether competence still matters in statewide government. A test of whether Texans believe regulators should be independent of the industries they regulate. And maybe most importantly, a test of whether fear can continue distracting us from the things government is actually supposed to fix.
Texans are worried about electricity bills.
They’re worried about water.
They’re worried about abandoned wells.
They’re worried about earthquakes in West Texas.
They’re worried about pollution.
They’re worried about whether our infrastructure can support the extraordinary growth happening across this state.
Those are real problems.
Texas does not have an imaginary Sharia Railroad Commission sneaking around Midland.
But we do have a real Railroad Commission. And we get to decide who sits on it.
Republicans already told us what they thought of Bo French. Dan Patrick told us his rhetoric was religious bigotry. Greg Abbott told us French didn’t understand oil and gas and could wreck the industry. John Cornyn is now warning Republicans that normalizing French’s intolerance could destroy their party.
Maybe Texans should believe them.
Because political principles that disappear the moment your guy wins the primary aren’t principles. They’re press releases.
And Texans deserve better than another politician whose qualifications for regulating one of the most important energy industries on Earth seem to include an impressive Twitter following, an obsession with Muslims and a donor list filled with people connected to the industry he’ll be responsible for regulating.
We have another choice.
His name is Jon Rosenthal. He’s an engineer. He understands the industry. He wants to talk about the actual job. And after everything Texas Republicans themselves have told us about Bo French, perhaps the most bipartisan thing Texans can do this November is take their warnings seriously.
Vote Jon Rosenthal for Texas Railroad Commissioner.
Because the Railroad Commission should be regulating oil wells. Not fighting imaginary Sharia law, and being a racist bigot online, and getting away with it.
You can donate to Jon Rosenthal here: DONATE
We have 52 more days to win this thing.. Please volunteer and show up!
Nancy Thompson