After the University of Texas defeated Ohio State's football team last month, UT's athletics department posted a video that included students of color celebrating in the Texas crowd.
Republican Bo French, who's running for the Railroad Commission of Texas, took a screenshot. He posted to X, saying the photo was evidence that "foreigners" were displacing Americans.
The post quickly drew condemnation from some Republicans. Among them, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and Karl Rove, a former advisor to President George W. Bush.
Soon after, French defended his remarks during an appearance on the Mark Davis Show, a conservative radio program based out of the Dallas area.
"DEI was discriminating against deserving people, so that these liberal bureaucrat administrators at University of Texas and places like that could select their preferred groups of people," he said. "Well, that is what is racism."
After French's remarks, a usually obscure, but important race for Texas railroad commissioner rose to national prominence.
He's received backlash for other controversial social media remarks too — for example, asking whether Jews or Muslims were the bigger threat to America.
But the Texas railroad commissioners don't oversee immigration or other hot-button, culture war issues that French has highlighted in his campaign. The organization doesn't even oversee railroads.
The three-member commission is tasked with regulating Texas' massive oil and gas industry, overseeing everything from pipeline safety to natural gas rates.
Virginia Palacios is the executive director of Commission Shift Action, a group that advocates for reforms of the state's oil and gas industry.
She said it's important that voters are informed about what the agency does.
"What they’re voting for is really an extremely powerful state agency that affects how their groundwater is protected throughout the state, that affects air emissions that come from oil and gas development, and that affects a lot of emission sources for greenhouse gases that warm the climate," she said.
Candidate platforms
In addition to French, there are two other candidates running for railroad commissioner: Democrat Jon Rosenthal and Libertarian Arthur DiBianca.
French was raised in Midland and draws on his experiences growing up with a family in the oil business. According to his campaign website, he's worked as an energy trader.
French said he wants to lower energy costs — which he blames on restrictions promoted by "radical environmentalists” — and reduce regulations he views as overly burdensome.
"I view it as, this is our most important industry in Texas and we need to have a regulatory framework that protects that and allows people to get in and compete," he said in an interview with Dallas television station WFAA this summer.
But, French's platform also includes several culture war issues.
For example, French's campaign website says he wants to end DEI practices at the commission and get rid of influence from the Chinese Communist Party in the oil and gas industry. According to his campaign platform, French also wants to "stop the Islamic invasion of Texas" and "support life and the nuclear family."
"When things come across as being controversial, it's because I've said something that is true that some people don't like that truth," he told WFAA.
A search of a public records database showed French was arrested on a charge of driving while intoxicated in 2006.
Court records show French agreed to pay a $750 fine and undergo two years of community supervision in exchange for a lesser charge, which was dismissed in 2010 after French completed the terms of the agreement.
French's campaign did not respond to requests for an interview. His campaign team also did not respond to a request for comment on French's arrest.
Rosenthal, French's Democratic opponent, is a Houston-area state representative and former oil field engineer, who worked in the industry for 25 years.
"I’m a subject matter expert with decades of experience," he said. "If you never found a ‘drill, baby, drill' Democrat before, I’m the one and I’m committed to keeping the industry strong and being responsible to our communities and the environment."
Rosenthal said he was motivated to run for railroad commissioner because of the 2021 winter freeze that left millions of Texans without power and heat. The massive power outages were due in part to a lack of weatherization of natural gas facilities.
Rosenthal's platform includes lowering electric bills, regulating data centers and cleaning up pollution. He said he also wants to prioritize everyday Texans over industry interests and promote jobs in the energy industry.
In particular, Rosenthal said he wants to focus on orphan wells — abandoned oil wells that weren't correctly plugged when they reached the end of their usefulness.
"You get help from the industry and promote the operators that do things right and discourage the ones that violate over and over again."
Rosenthal condemned French's remarks after the Republican nominee's social media post about UT students.
"For someone to take this moment of pride and joy and unity for Texans of all types and look at an image and see only his personal division and hate because of the color of the skin of some of those students is — you know — we run out of adjectives," he said.
A search of a public records database showed Rosenthal committed two traffic violations in 2007, including a speeding ticket and failure to show proof of automobile insurance. Both were eventually dismissed.
DiBianca, the libertarian candidate, called French unfit for office and presents himself as an alternative for voters who are unsatisfied with his opponents.
He said it's important to put everyday Texans' interests above those of the energy industry.
"We need to make sure that railroad commissioners are always aware that their primary job is not to represent the oil and gas industry," DiBianca said. "The primary job is to secure the rights of their constituents."
DiBianca said he wants to regulate the oil and gas industry from a restitution-based perspective.
"Rather than dictating to industries in advance what they're allowed and not allowed to do, it would be better if we made sure that whatever they choose to do, if they cause damage in the process, property owners who have suffered damage can get prompt restitution," he said.
A search of a public records database did not return any criminal cases or traffic violations for DiBianca in Texas.
Public perceptions
The Texas Oil and Gas Association PAC, which represents industry interests, endorsed French shortly before his social media post about UT students.
The group did not respond to requests for an interview, but previously told theTexas Tribune that they condemned his remarks, though they did not revoke their endorsement.
In the last campaign finance reporting period, Rosenthal outraised French, with most of those donations going to Rosenthal after French's post. Still, the candidates' recent reports to the state show French has more cash on hand for his campaign.
Still, the race remains incredibly close, according to the latest poll from Texas Southern University. It shows Rosenthal trailing French by two percentage points, with 44% of voters supporting French and 42% for Rosenthal. However, French’s lead is within the margin of error. The polling found that about 3% of voters supported DiBianca and another 11% remained undecided.
Polling from Texas Southern University showed many voters still aren't familiar with Rosenthal. About 76% of likely voters said they didn't know enough about him to have an opinion. Meanwhile, French's net favorability among voters declined from July through mid-September.
TSU political scientist Michael Adams said French may have brought attention to an obscure race, after his social media controversy last month.
"If he had kept his mouth shut, nobody would have known what the railroad commission is and ... so they may not have voted, or they may have just voted Republican," Adams said.
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