Fallen Senator Spurns Abbott's Unity Pitch
as Patrick Mum on Hopeful He Called Bigot
Capitol Inside
June 1, 2026
Governor Greg Abbott declared on Sunday that Texas Republicans are marching arm-in-arm in a show of unity for the fall in the wake of primary runoff races that a candidate he'd refused to support and another he worked frantically to beat won last week in races for U.S. Senate and another statewide post.
"Texas has spoken," Abbott declared in a post on X. "The path to November is set.
We are united, focused, and ready to protect our state from the failed policies of the radical Left."
But the united front that Abbott touted looks more like a boat with a couple of holes on Monday in light of U.S. Senator John Cornyn's refusal to get on board and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's conspicuous silence on Bo French's addition to the statewide slate as a candidate whose values and rhetoric he'd attacked.
French ousted Railroad Commissioner Jim Wright with 50.7 percent of the runoff vote when the state Attorney General Ken Paxton gave Cornyn the boot with 64 percent. French faces Democratic State Rep. Jon Rosenthal of Houston in the general election in a now-open RRC race. Rosenthal ran unopposed in the first round.
French picked up endorsements on Monday from the Texas Railroad Commission's two other members - Republicans Christi Craddick and Wayne Christian - in the aftermath of their colleague's defeat in OT..
But the fragile facade of unity that the governor sought to convey took a shot when Cornyn stood by claims that he'd made about Paxton, who he depicted as a crooked philanderer who'd been charged with crimes, targeted in a FBI probe, impeached by 60 GOP state lawmakers on corruption charges, sued for divorce and targeted by former aides who he fired after they reported him to federal authorities amid allegations of bribery.
Cornyn apparently decided that his integrity and credibility were a higher priority than an effort aimed at pleasing voters who rejected him at the polls and statewide leaders like Abbott who'd refused to defend him despite pleas from Senate leaders who warned that Paxton would be a disaster for the ticket in the fall. But Abbott demonstrated on Monday that he's all in on Paxton now - and the National Republican Senatorial Committee agreed to help fund the Paxton bid after deleting harsh criticism from the Cornyn playbook from its web site.
The governor had refused to come to Paxton's defense when Texas House Republicans tried to run him out of office in 2023 with a historic impeachment vote and trial in the Senate. Abbott reportedly tried to help Cornyn behind the scenes despite the official position of neutrality in the Senate primary.
While staying neutral on the Senate race in rounds one and two, Abbott characterized French two days before the runoff vote as someone who'd be incompetent as RRC member because he knows nothing about the oil and gas industry he'd have the responsibility of regulating. The governor wasted no time eating his words on French for the sake of unifying the Republicans who've never been as divided as they've been here this year behind a ticket that feature Ken Paxton as the U.S. Senate nominee and Abbott in a re-election race as the marquee contests.
Patrick has stressed in recent months how critical it would be for Texas Republicans to unite for fights with Democrats after the bloodletting that the U.S. Senate race here turned out to be before Paxton ousted Cornyn in the runoff election on Tuesday with 64 percent of the vote.
But Patrick accused French of anti-semitism and bigotry less than a year ago based on disparaging comments about Muslims and Jewish people on social media. Patrick demanded that French resign immediately from his job at the time as the Tarrant County Republican Party chairman. "Bo French’s words do not reflect my values nor the values of the Republican Party," Patrick said at the time.
French ignored the call from the powerful Texas Senate president for his exit from the local party until he quit as county chair on his own time and terms last fall so he could pursue a promotion from voters with the bid for a seat on the three-member RRC in the 2026 midterm elections. And GOP runoff voters rejected their top leaders' pleas for voters to support Wright to prevent an epic embarrassment that Abbott and Patrick have feared French would be for the general ticket and state government in general if he's the nominee for a seat on the Railroad Commission. .
But Patrick - unlike the governor - might be less inclined to put politics over the principles he's always claimed to hold dear simply because he'd been preaching the need for post-runoff election unity for a GOP ticket on which he's a member as well in a race for a fourth term as lieutenant governor.
French expressed thanks late last week to the Republican nominees for non-judicial statewide offices for endorsing his campaign belatedly after his nomination for the RRC was a done deal after defeating Wright by 1 point with 50.7 percent of the vote in round two. Patrick was the only name that was missing from the list of statewide nominees who'd rallied behind him after he prevailed in overtime.
While Patrick has been in Italy where his daughter works at the American embassy in Rome, he could board the late-train for the French campaign after he returns. The lieutenant governor may be inclined to keep it vague and simply say that he plans to support the Republican ticket in November without mentioning French specifically. But that would mean Patrick plans to back the same candidate he'd branded as a bigot for an important statewide position.
French was in vintage form on Monday with a shot he took at Rosenthal in a social media post. "My radical leftist opponent is @Jon_RosenthalTX," French said. "He is opbsessed with grooming children into the LGBTQ lifestyle. He never misses a chance to indoctrinate kids and celebrate degeneracy."
more to come ...
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