Ken Paxton Racist Controversy Texas

Ken Paxton Wouldn't Name the Republican Who Called South Asian UT Students a 'Problem.' Paxton Backed Him for Office in May.

Bo French, the GOP nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, posted a photo of South Asian students at a UT football game and called it a 'problem.' John Cornyn asked whether other Republicans would condemn it. Asked directly, Ken Paxton never said French's name. He attacked James Talarico instead, and got Talarico's words wrong.

MAGA Report Cards · Sep 15, 2026

Ken Paxton Wouldn't Name the Republican Who Called South Asian UT Students a 'Problem.' Paxton Backed Him for Office in May.

On Saturday night, September 12, 2026, the Texas Longhorns came back to beat Ohio State in Austin. The next morning, the Republican nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner went after the fans in the stands.

At 7:52 a.m. on Sunday, Bo French posted a photo on X of University of Texas students of South Asian descent cheering in the stands. His caption: "I heard UT graduation this year looked like this. I didn't believe it. The problem is now obviously far worse than anyone imagined."

Over the next nine hours, Republicans across Texas called it what it was. Then James Talarico asked Ken Paxton, the Republican running for U.S. Senate, to do the same.

Paxton wrote a post about racism. He never once said Bo French's name.

Republicans condemned it by name

Outgoing Sen. John Cornyn was among the first. At 9:17 a.m. he quoted French's post and wrote:

"This is the Republican nominee for statewide office. Are other Republican elected officials going to condemn the intolerance and racism, or look the other way while it becomes normalized. This is how great political parties self-destruct. Sad."

That was a direct question to every Republican in the state. French answered it before anyone else could. Twenty-four minutes later he replied that Texas institutions "have been overrun by illegal aliens and foreign nationals because of RINOs like John Cornyn who have cheered for them over our own citizens," and said Cornyn "and the other America Last losers are mad that Texas Republicans are starting to put America First."

Other Republicans lined up behind Cornyn:

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows wrote: "You can oppose immigration policy without demeaning people because of their race or ethnicity — this post has crossed the line. Delete it @bofrench"
Former Speaker Dade Phelan called French "unfit for office," the Texas Tribune reported.
Karl Rove, George W. Bush's longtime political adviser, called French a "bigot" at a members-only lunch in Austin, according to three attendees who spoke to the Tribune. Rove said he will vote for Democrat Jon Rosenthal for Railroad Commissioner. He said the only Democrat he has ever voted for was Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, in 1994.

French didn't delete anything. On the Mark Davis Show the next day he said, "I don't have anything against the people specifically in that picture," and brushed off the people criticizing him as "the less-conservative people in Texas."

The question put to Paxton

At 12:10 p.m., Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate, quoted Cornyn's post and tagged his opponent:

"Thank you @JohnCornyn for your leadership. Racism has no place in Texas. @KenPaxtonTX: will you condemn this blatant racism or will you cower to extremists?"

It was a yes-or-no question about one post by one man.

At 4:48 p.m., Paxton answered:

"I condemn racism in all its forms, including James Talarico saying white men are America's top terror threat and that he prays to overcome his own 'whiteness,' whatever that means. Only one person in this race has a history of dividing Texans by race, and it's James Talarico. I will continue to focus on uniting our State and bringing together the broadest possible coalition to fight for Texas, our values, and our families."

Read it again. There is no Bo French in it. There are no UT students in it. The Houston Chronicle's headline on the exchange was Ken Paxton silent on Bo French UT student remarks, accuses Talarico of racism.

Paxton said he wants to unite "the broadest possible coalition." A statewide nominee on his own ticket had just called students at the state's flagship university a problem because of how they look. Paxton didn't say one word to them.

Paxton isn't a bystander here. He backed French.

There is a reason Paxton might not want to say that name.

In May, the Texas Observer reported that French was "backed by the insurgent wing of the party, including Senate candidate and Attorney General Ken Paxton." Four days before the May 26 runoff, French posted a video with the caption: "BREAKING: Trump-Endorsed Ken Paxton tells voters, 'Bo French will be a great Railroad Commissioner.'" French won the runoff and the nomination.

Paxton did not back an unknown. The same Observer story reported that French had called on X for deporting a Chinese American state representative and a Muslim state representative, and for stripping citizenship from all Muslims in America and deporting them. It also reported that the summer before, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had called on French to resign as chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party after French posted a poll asking whether Jews or Muslims were the bigger "threat" to the nation. The Tribune reports French has also called for deporting 100 million people, a number that would include American citizens.

Paxton backed that man for statewide office. When French turned the same kind of attack on college students, Paxton changed the subject.

What Talarico actually said

Paxton's post made two claims about Talarico. Neither one matches the words Talarico actually used.

"White men are America's top terror threat." In 2021, Talarico wrote: "Radicalized white men are the greatest domestic terrorist threat in our country." He posted it after three mass shootings that targeted Black, Latino and Asian Americans, and he linked to a CNN story about a Homeland Security report from Trump's own first term, the Texas Tribune reported. That report, released in October 2020, said that "white supremacist extremists" will "remain the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland."

In the same thread, Talarico wrote about himself: "As a white man, I'm susceptible to the same radicalization."

Paxton cut the word "radicalized." He cut "domestic." That turned a warning about violent extremists, backed by Trump's own Homeland Security Department, into an attack on every white man in America.

"He prays to overcome his own 'whiteness.'" In a 2019 clip, Talarico said: "For me, prophetic voices like Jesus have helped me reckon with my own whiteness, my own masculinity, my own certainty, my own ego. It's a never-ending process, and it's a painful process."

"Reckon with" means to think hard about. It does not mean "overcome." He did not say he prays about it. And he listed whiteness right next to his own masculinity, certainty and ego, the things he said faith pushes him to look at in himself.

This is not the first time Paxton has reshaped Talarico's words. Last week his campaign released an ad in which an AI-generated Talarico delivers a speech he never gave, built from real remarks with the context stripped out. Paxton appears at the end to say he approved it.

The students in the photo

The people French called a "problem" have names, and the Tribune went and asked them.

"When I look at that picture, I don't see a problem," said Dhairya Gupta, a UT senior. Gupta told The Dallas Morning News he is a naturalized citizen. Sophomore Lisa Varghese called French's complaint about skin color "just disgusting."

French's "foreigners" story doesn't hold up either. At UT, 90% of freshmen must be Texas residents, and international students made up about 4% of undergraduates in the 2025-26 school year, the Tribune reported.

This is not new ground for Texas Republicans. In August we wrote about how North Texas Congressman Brandon Gill, who once said America doesn't need to "import 7-Eleven workers from India," answered being called racist by saying the word "doesn't work anymore."

What the record shows

On September 13, 2026, Bo French, the Republican nominee for Texas Railroad Commissioner, posted a photo of South Asian students at a UT football game and called them a "problem." John Cornyn, Speaker Dustin Burrows, Dade Phelan and Karl Rove all condemned French. James Talarico asked Ken Paxton directly whether he would condemn it too. Paxton posted about racism without naming French, the man he had backed before the May runoff. Instead he accused Talarico of calling white men America's top terror threat, dropping the words "radicalized" and "domestic" from a 2021 post that cited a Homeland Security report from Trump's first term. He also said Talarico "prays to overcome" his whiteness, when Talarico's actual words were that Jesus helped him "reckon with" it.