In June 2025 the chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party posted a poll on X. The question was “Who is a bigger threat to America?” There were two answers. Jews. Muslims. Bo French is now his party’s nominee for a statewide Texas office with a six-year term.
The second number in the panel above needs no caveat. French took the May runoff with a certified 50.54 percent of 1,316,470 votes against the sitting commissioner — a margin of 14,348 votes — after Christi Craddick and Wayne Christian, two of the three sitting commissioners, and House Speaker Dustin Burrows endorsed his opponent.7 So the sentence to argue with is the one people reach for first. He’ll win anyway.
If you are a Texas Muslim, a Texas Jew, or the grandchild of someone who arrived here, you read the headlines and finished the thought already. Awful. Inevitable. Texas. The first two words are yours to keep. The third has not earned its place this cycle. Assume it is over and the assumption goes to work on the arithmetic, converting the people with most at stake into the ones least likely to be counted.
The recordTwo options, no way out: the poll he deleted
The poll went up on June 25, 2025. It offered exactly two options, “Jews” and “Muslims.” A respondent who wanted to reject the premise had nowhere to put the click. The post has since been deleted; a Dallas Observer screenshot is the artifact everything else rests on, its wording corroborated in text by two other outlets. News accounts report 73.5 percent chose Muslims and 26.5 percent chose Jews. The screenshot shows the poll still open, at 806 votes, with no percentages displayed.1
Who is a bigger threat to America?
The results got quoted. The question is the part that lasts. It never asks whether either community is a threat; it assumes that and moves to ranking. If you are Muslim, 73.5 is the number that finds you. If you are Jewish, there is a temptation to read 26.5 as distance — as evidence the danger points somewhere else. I do not think it is distance. It is a second entry on the same list, in the same two-option question, from the same account. Neither community was asked to pick a side. Both were asked which of them to fear more.
Dan Patrick called on him to resign. French’s answer was: “I have always strongly supported Israel and I’m not resigning.” He did not stop there. He said he had posted the poll following the election of what he called an “Islamic communist,” while working to “expose the radical islamists in Tarrant County.”
3Read the whole response rather than the first sentence of it. The defense offered for a poll about two communities is a profession of support for one and a restatement of the charge against the other.
A year later a French campaign fundraising email circulated an AI-generated image of Jon Rosenthal inside the room where the Romanov family was executed, with text saying he has “much in common with the Marxist revolutionaries who brutally executed the Romanov family.” The Forward, which reported it, characterizes the imagery as invoking the Judeo-Bolshevism conspiracy theory. French has not stated that intent.6
“…much in common with the Marxist revolutionaries who brutally executed the Romanov family.”
The circle is wider than two names. French posted a Houston Chronicle invitation captioned, “What questions do you think ‘Raj Mankad’ would like to ask?” — scare quotes around the name of the paper’s deputy opinion editor, who was born and raised in the United States. Evan Mintz, the Chronicle’s editor of opinion and community engagement, reported that, and in the same piece reported French’s proposal to “denaturalize and deport foreigners.” Mintz writes opinion rather than news, which is worth weighing.
9Getting this page in front of people costs money. Almost nobody is spending anything on this race, which is exactly why so few voters know it is inside three points. This goes to Is IT Online, which publishes and promotes this page. It is not a contribution to any candidate or campaign, and it is not tax-deductible. To fund a campaign directly, give to that campaign.
- June 25, 2025Posts the two-option poll asking which of Jews or Muslims is the bigger threat to America.
- June 28, 2025Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick calls for his resignation. Cornyn and Fort Worth’s mayor back removing him. He refuses.
- Fall 2025Leaves the county chairmanship and runs for the Railroad Commission.
- April 2026Two sitting commissioners and the House Speaker endorse his opponent in the runoff.
- May 20–21, 2026Gov. Abbott campaigns with his opponent in the Houston area and San Antonio, telling voters French “doesn’t know anything about oil and gas.”
- May 26, 2026Wins the nomination with 50.54 percent, certified — 14,348 votes out of 1.3 million.
- August 2026Campaign email places his opponent in the Romanov execution room. A poll puts the race at three points.
- November 3, 2026General election. Six-year term.
County by countyHow close it was where you live
The runoff was not close everywhere. It was close in the aggregate because counties pulled hard in different directions: Travis gave French 41 percent, Denton gave him 61. And Fort Bend — which Rice University researchers have called the most ethnically diverse county in the United States14 — was one of his strongest in the state: 58.65 percent of its runoff voters chose him. The map defaults there. Tap any county, or search for yours.
May 26, 2026 Republican runoff · French vs. Wright, by county
Read the percentages for what they are. This was a Republican primary runoff: statewide, 1,316,470 people voted in this race — 7.05 percent of Texas’s 18.66 million registered voters, a figure the state’s canvass prints itself. A county’s number describes the people who showed up for that runoff, not “the Republicans of that county,” and certainly not the county. That is the point: a sliver of the electorate picked this nominee, and November is when everyone else gets a say.
The officeOil, gas, and six years of discretion
The Railroad Commission of Texas last regulated a railroad in 2005. It regulates oil and gas production, pipelines, natural gas utilities and surface coal mining. Three commissioners, elected statewide, six-year terms.
His campaign site lists six positions, in this order:
- “Reverse the Regulatory Stranglehold”
- “Stop the Islamic Invasion of Texas”Not about the industry — and ranked above two planks that are
- “End DEI’s Stranglehold on Texas Oil”
- “End CCP Influence over Our Oil Industry”
- “Protect the US and Our Allies”
- “Support Life and the Nuclear Family”
Four of the six concern the industry or its regulation. The second one does not. It is not a gap where an oil policy should be. It sits inside the oil policy, second on the list, above two of the planks about oil.
His About page leaves nothing for anyone else to characterize. It says he “has used his platform to fight Islam, DEI, LGBTQ indoctrination, and the Chinese Communist Party.”
5Source: the candidate’s own words, on his own campaign site.
The Commission has no authority over immigration, as Mintz points out. It does have authority over which complaints get investigated and which operators get looked at twice, and it has that authority for six years at a stretch. What a voter does with a platform that ranks stopping an “Islamic Invasion” above two of its own oil planks is a judgment about priorities. I am not going to make it for you, and he has not said how he would use the Commission’s discretion.
Why down-ballotThe seat nobody watches
Open this section ↓ Why a low-visibility seat is worth exactly this much attention.
I could not have named a single railroad commissioner before this race. That is not a confession; it is the condition the office operates in. A regulator’s work happens one inspection and one permit at a time, mostly out of view. The term is six years. And the line is not at the top of the ballot.
I had been reading those as three separate complaints. I no longer think that is the most useful way to hold them — not because I can show that anyone planned anything, but because the same low-visibility conditions apply to all three. A seat that draws little attention asks little of a candidate on the subject of the work, and takes a long time to be checked on. That is a reason to reach the line rather than stop above it.
Not a partisan claimRepublicans condemned him first
Open this section ↓ Patrick, Cornyn, Capriglione, Abbott — what his own party said and did, quoted.
Every person quoted in this section is a Republican — and the two most powerful officials in Texas did more than talk. In the final week of the runoff, Governor Greg Abbott campaigned in person alongside French’s opponent, in the Houston area and in San Antonio, telling voters French “doesn’t know anything about oil and gas.”15 Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick had already demanded French’s resignation over the poll — and then endorsed his opponent in the runoff. Those are acts, on the record, from his own party’s leadership. Whatever anyone says between now and November does not un-say what they did when it counted.
Dan Patrick called for his resignation and said: “Bo French’s words do not reflect my values nor the values of the Republican Party. Antisemitism and religious bigotry have no place in Texas.”
State Representative Giovanni Capriglione said: “No one has done more damage to Tarrant County Republicans than Bo ‘all I do is tweet and hate’ French.”
Also: Senator John Cornyn backed removing him, as did Fort Worth’s mayor.
4Nothing here asks a Republican to stop voting Republican. Weigh the acts: your governor campaigning against him in person, a resignation demand from your lieutenant governor, endorsements against him from two sitting commissioners of the agency he wants to join, and a runoff he won by 14,348 votes out of 1.3 million against a man already doing the job. None of those officials has said how they will vote in November, and I am not going to say it for them. You do not have to wait for them to decide before you do.
The coverageNone of this is one page’s discovery
Open this section ↓ Seven outlets’ original reporting, linked.
Everything above was reported first by working journalists, across outlets that do not agree with each other about much else. Read the coverage yourself — each card links to the original reporting.
The alternativeThe other name: an oil-and-gas engineer
Open this section ↓ Who Jon Rosenthal is: an oil-and-gas engineer, four terms in the Texas House.
Jon Rosenthal is a mechanical and subsea engineer with, by his campaign’s account, 25-plus years “in and around the oil and gas industry,” and four terms in the Texas House from District 135. That figure is his own bio’s, so weigh it. The rest is unusually literal for a down-ballot race: an oil and gas engineer running to regulate oil and gas. His campaign line about himself runs “This Jewish engineer is ready to beat Bo French, and send him home in November.” His words, not mine, and I have not verified how he describes his faith elsewhere.
10What he would do with the Commission’s discretion is a question this piece does not answer, and you should want an answer before you vote. A persuaded Republican can also leave the line blank and feel principled. A blank line changes no margin.
Do thisWhat to do this week
“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”Edmund Burke, 177011
Burke did not ask anyone to be good. He asked them to show up — and named the price of waiting: one by one. The man who gave us “first they came” knew that price from the inside; he had spent years agreeing with the list before his own name appeared on it.12 Associating, here, is not a feeling and not a post. It costs the following, and only the following:
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Today
Check that your registration is current at the address where you actually live. If you have moved, changed your name, or last voted from another county, assume it is wrong until you confirm it.
Statewide registration deadline: Monday, October 5, 2026. Your county elections office or the Texas Secretary of State’s site will confirm your status.
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Today
Pick your voting day and put it in the calendar with a location, like a doctor’s appointment.
Statewide early voting: Monday, October 19 – Friday, October 30. Election Day: Tuesday, November 3.13 Daily hours and locations are set by your county, so check yours before you go.
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When you vote
Keep going past the top of the ballot to the Railroad Commission line, and mark it.
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This week
Send this to five specific people who have already filed this race under “lost.” Not a broadcast post — five names, individually. Send the poll with the caveat attached, the way it is written above: one survey, margin of error not stated. It is still the thing they do not have.
Someone who has filed a race under “lost” has made a forecast, and forecasts move when data does — including thin data, honestly labeled. Send it to the friend who changes the subject when politics comes up, and the relative who votes every time and stops halfway down the ballot.
If you do one thing here, do this one. -
Any time
If you have money and no time, this is the version of the ask that fits. It pays to put this page in front of people who have written the race off — ads, printing, the work of getting it read. It goes to Is IT Online, not to a campaign.
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If you belong to a congregation
Ask whoever handles community programming what your congregation’s own policy allows. Nonpartisan voter registration and rides to the polls are common practice at houses of worship, but the rules are specific and the exposure is your institution’s, not mine — so ask, rather than assume.
On election night there will be a margin, and it will be read as a message, because margins always are. One version of it gets delivered by people who were sure this was hopeless and stayed home, recording their absence rather than their objection. The other costs a registration check, a calendar entry, five texts and a trip down the ballot.
November 3, 2026.
QuestionsFrequently asked, plainly answered
Who is Bo French?
The former chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, and now the Republican nominee for the Texas Railroad Commission — a statewide office with a six-year term. He won the May 2026 runoff against the sitting commissioner with a certified 50.54 percent of the vote.
Did he really post a poll asking whether Jews or Muslims are a bigger threat?
Yes. On June 25, 2025 he posted a poll on X asking “Who is a bigger threat to America?” with exactly two options: “Jews” and “Muslims.” He deleted it, but the Dallas Observer published a screenshot, and its wording was corroborated by two other outlets. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called for his resignation over it. He refused.
What does the Railroad Commission actually do?
Not railroads — it last regulated one in 2005. It regulates oil and gas production, pipelines, natural gas utilities and surface coal mining, through three commissioners elected statewide to six-year terms. Much of its day-to-day power is discretionary: which complaints get investigated, which operators get looked at twice.
Isn’t this race already decided? It’s Texas.
That is the assumption this page exists to challenge. The only public survey of the race, from Texas Southern University in late July 2026, put French at 44 and Rosenthal at 41 — with 43 percent of independents undecided. One poll, margin of error not stated, so hold it loosely. But the runoff result needs no caveat: the certified canvass has French winning his own party’s nomination by 14,348 votes out of 1,316,470 — 50.54 percent — against an incumbent.
Who is Jon Rosenthal?
A mechanical and subsea engineer with, by his campaign’s account, more than 25 years in and around the oil and gas industry, and a four-term state representative from District 135 in the Houston area. An oil-and-gas engineer running to regulate oil and gas.
Is this page partisan? Who pays for it?
It is an opinion page with sourced facts — the two are kept separate, and every factual claim links to its source at the foot of the page. It does not ask Republicans to stop being Republicans; it quotes what Republican officials themselves said and did about French — including Gov. Abbott campaigning against him in person in the runoff’s final week. It is paid for by Voterbiz, a company by Innovative Solutions IT. Money given through this page funds the page’s publication and promotion — it does not go to any candidate or campaign.
What should I actually do?
Five things, listed in the action section: check your registration before Monday, October 5, 2026; put a voting day on your calendar (early voting runs October 19–30, Election Day is November 3); vote the whole ballot down to the Railroad Commission line; send this page to five people who think the race is lost; and ask your congregation what its own policy allows for registration tables and rides.
I found an error on this page.
Good — that is how this is supposed to work. This is a working draft revised in public. Corrections and challenges to any factual claim are welcome and will be addressed on the page itself.
Sources
Open ↓ Every citation on this page, numbered and linked.
Sources
- The poll, its two options and its wording — screenshot of the since-deleted post, Dallas Observer, July 3, 2025. Wording corroborated in text by the San Antonio Current and The Contrarian. The 73.5 / 26.5 split is as reported by news accounts; the screenshot shows the poll still open, without percentages.
- Dan Patrick’s statement and resignation call — Dallas Morning News, June 28, 2025.
- French’s response, including the “radical islamists” language — FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, June 2025.
- Cornyn, Fort Worth’s mayor and Capriglione — Spectrum News, July 2, 2025.
- Campaign platform, six planks in order — bofrench.com/issues. About-page quotation — bofrench.com/about. Retrieved August 21, 2026.
- Romanov fundraising email — The Forward, August 2026.
- Runoff result — certified canvass: French 665,409, Wright 651,061 of 1,316,470 votes (50.54 percent), all 254 counties. Texas Secretary of State, official results system; turnout printed on the canvass: 7.05 percent of 18,662,785 registered voters. Election-night coverage: The Texan, May 27, 2026. Craddick, Christian and Burrows endorsements — Dallas Morning News.
- Texas Southern University poll, late July 2026 — The Texan. Margin of error not stated in the available summary.
- Raj Mankad caption and the “denaturalize and deport” proposal — Evan Mintz, Houston Chronicle opinion, August 2026 (print edition). Mintz’s title — Houston Chronicle author page.
- Jon Rosenthal’s background — Wikipedia and his campaign bio. Years of experience are self-reported.
- The “triumph of evil” quotation is not found in Burke’s works — Barry Popik; David Bromwich, The Chronicle of Higher Education. Burke’s actual sentence is from Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents (1770).
- Niemöller — no authoritative text, list variations, and his own record: USHMM on the quotation and USHMM biography; Harold Marcuse, UC Santa Barbara, on the Socialists/Communists substitution.
- Election dates — Texas Secretary of State, November 3, 2026 Election Law Calendar.
- Fort Bend County as the nation’s most ethnically diverse — Rice University Kinder Institute for Urban Research (Stephen Klineberg), via the Houston Chronicle.
- Abbott’s campaign appearances with Wright and the “doesn’t know anything about oil and gas” remark — KERA News, May 21, 2026; Dallas Morning News. Patrick and Speaker Burrows’s endorsements of Wright — Dallas Morning News.