'Narrow-minded': UT student speaks out after Texas GOP candidate's controversial posts about student diversity

AUSTIN, Texas - More people are speaking about the controversial comments made by the Texas GOP candidate for Railroad Commissioner about a diverse group of University of Texas students, including the students themselves.

Bo French UT student comments

The backstory:

On Sunday, September 13, Bo French posted a photo on X showing a diverse group of students celebrating Texas' win over Ohio State, writing, "I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined."

More than an hour later, French reposted the same photo, adding, "Like body-cams exposed criminals, social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners. It’s everywhere and far worse than any of us could imagine."

Figures from both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party criticized French's posts, calling them racist. State Rep. Jon Rosenthal, his Democratic opponent for Railroad Commissioner, blasted the post, saying, " A man who can’t tell a Longhorn from a foreigner has no business regulating anything in TX."

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) condemned French's post, saying "This is how great political parties self-destruct," in his own post. French fired back at Cornyn saying, "He and the other America Last losers are mad that Texas Republicans are starting to put America First."

French's attempted to clarify his comments on a Dallas radio show on Monday.  I think the bigger conversation is are we going to have policies that prioritize Americans and the exceptionalism that Americans have or are we going to prioritize foreigners?" French said.

What they're saying:

"It's never a good thing to say, but a person who is running for position of power saying it is especially disturbing," Rahul Kodali, one of the students in the photo French posted, tells FOX 4's Steven Dial.

Kodali, who is from Flower Mound, says he was born and raised in the United States. "It's kind of especially annoying whenever these people constantly try to displace me."

He called French's comments "narrow-minded," and said he has nothing else to say to French after his posts.

"Every student that's currently at the University of Texas deserves to be there. There's no handouts or anything. So even if these people like that are making it a thing about race, everyone that's here deserves to be here, and they've done and worked hard to make it so," Kodali said.

What's New:

On Tuesday, Karl Rove, the GOP strategist and former advisor to President George W. Bush, told a private lunch in Austin that he would be voting for Rosenthal over French.

Rove voting for a Democrat would break a 30-year streak of the longtime strategist voting Republican. He called French a "bigot" during the lunch.

President Donald Trump attacked Rove on social media, saying Rove is "bad for the Republican Party."

What's next:

Elections in Texas, including the race for Texas Railroad Commissioner, are scheduled for November 3.

French has said he will not drop out of the race despite controversy around his comments.

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