Bo French (left) and Jon Rosenthal (right)
Republican railroad commission candidate Bo French is seeing his favorability among Texas voters drop amid his controversial social media posts.
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More people view French unfavorably compared to July
By the numbers:
In a poll by the Barbara Jordan Public Policy Research and Survey Center and Texas Southern University, French (44%) holds a two-point lead over Democrat Jon Rosenthal (42%), with 3% of voters supporting Libertarian Arthur DiBianca and 11% undecided. French’s lead has fallen by one point since July.
However, as more voters learn enough about French to form an opinion on him, that opinion has become increasingly unfavorable.
In the September poll, 22% of voters said they viewed French favorably, 32% viewed him unfavorably and 46% said they didn’t know enough to have an opinion.
By comparison, in the same poll in July, 67% of voters said they did not know enough about French to have an opinion, while 19% viewed him favorably and 14% viewed him unfavorably.
Rosenthal remains unknown to a majority of Texas voters, with 76% not knowing enough about him to form an opinion. That number is down from 83% in July. Eleven percent have a favorable opinion of Rosenthal, while 13% hold an unfavorable opinion.
Some Republicans say they will vote Democrat in race
Big picture view:
Around 6% of Republicans polled said they would vote for Rosenthal in the race, while 0% of Democrats said they would cross over.
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On the Republican side, 80% said they were voting for French, while 11% remain undecided and 3% said they would vote for DiBianca.
Ten percent of Democrats were undecided and 1% said they would vote for DiBianca.
French’s comments after Texas football game draw backlash
French drew backlash from both parties shortly after the Texas Longhorns defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes on Sept. 12 after posting a photo of students celebrating the victory as French used the photo to make a comment on college enrollment policies and immigrants.
French noted the racial make-up of those in the picture celebrating the win. He posted: “I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn’t believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined.”
French went on to say: “How many Americans have been displaced by foreigners.”
According to the University, for the 2025-2026 academic year, students who are Texas residents make up 80.5% of all students while another 10.2% are from outside of Texas, representing 48 other states.
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