Bo French Has Governor Eating Crow
with Top Upset in Runoff with RRC Win
Primary Runoff Most Valuable Player
Capitol Inside
May 28, 2026
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Bo French
Best Runoff Upset |
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Governor Greg Abbott warned Texas Republican voters last week that Bo French would destroy the state's oil and gas business if he won the primary runoff election in the statewide race for railroad commissioner because he's ignorant about the industry. Abbott sounded the alarm on French in a pitch for incumbent Jim Wright in the stretch before Tuesday's vote.
But the governor told voters exactly the opposite of what he'd said a week ago when he made nice with French on Wednesday and welcomed him to the GOP's team of statewide nominees amid plans to march arm-in-arm into the fall in the wake of his narrow win in the primary runoff election the night before.
Abbott's newfound support for a candidate he portrayed as hopelessly unqualified has given Democrats advertising material that Donald Trump himself couldn't buy when French represents the governor and the entire GOP ticket in a fight with Democratic nominee Jon Rosenthal in the general election. Abbott's analysis on the new Texas Railroad Commission nominee will be plastered across television screens in Rosenthal ads in a race that would have been off the radar if the governor's candidate would have won in overtime.
Wright's "primary opponent doesn't know anything about oil and gas," Abbott said of the former Tarrant County GOP chairman who ousted Wright early Wednesday morning with 56 percent of the runoff vote. "His agenda would wreck the miracle that we have in producing more oil and gas than ever before – by the way - more oil and gas than what Iran produces."
French is a cinch for recognition for the number one upset in overtime in the Capitol Inside Best of the Texas Primary Election honors for the runoff this week. The nail-biting victory in the RRC race made French one of seven Texas runoff winners who'd finished second in the primary election in March. But French had come within a half-point of first in round one when he and Wright received 31.8 percent and 32.1 percent of the vote respectively.
The wealthy Fort Worth businessman could prove to be his own worst enemy this fall when his angry rhetoric about Muslims and immigrants and mockery directed at gay and disabled people starts popping up on the TV set along with the Texas governor's blistering depiction of him just a few days ago as incompetent.
But Abbott isn't the only big-name Texas Republican who hopes voters have a short memory when it comes to attacking the new GOP nominee for a seat on a commission that regulates the energy industry here. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has given Rosenthal and the Democrats major ammunition to use against French as well. The Texas Senate president went for the jugular last summer after French posted a social media poll on whether Jews or Muslims posed the biggest threat to the U.S.
"Bo French’s words do not reflect my values nor the values of the Republican Party," Patrick said in a post on X on June 28. "Antisemitism and religious bigotry have no place in Texas. I am calling for the immediate resignation and replacement of @BoFrenchTX as @tarrantgop Chairman."
Abbott and Patrick are dining on some serious crow now after preaching the need for a united front among Republicans in November when they will be sandwiched on the Republican ticket between French and Attorney General Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate race after his ousting of John Cornyn in overtime. .
Patrick's name - however - was conspicuously missing on Thursday in a French post on X about the GOP's other statewide nominees in non-judicial races all endorsing his campaign after the win in OT this week. Patrick, who endorsed Wright for the RRC in round one, has been traveling this week in Italy.
"They have all reached out or endorsed since our victory and made it clear we are running together as a ticket to defeat the radical left in November," French said of his teammates on the GOP statewide ticket in 2026.
French raised two dollars for his statewide debut for every $3 that Wright rounded up with $3.2 million in contributions for the bid that failed at the polls this week. But French has been an unabashed darling with the MAGA far-right base, which has never cared that much for the governor here and isn't in love with Patrick the way it used to be.
Most importantly, French appeared on every conservative social media slate for the primary runoff that featured Paxton at the top in the U.S. Senate race. It appeared abundantly clear from the view here that French rode Paxton's coattails to victory in the second round - and that was more than Abbott, Patrick and the rest could match.
Now the governor and lieutenant governor will be sandwiched on the statewide ticket for the Republicans between French and Paxton as its bookends. What a ride that could be!
The Capitol Inside Best of the Texas Primary Election runoff will be posted in installments over the course of the next few days.
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