Mayor Mattie Parker and several Republican leaders across Fort Worth, Tarrant County and the state took to social media June 27 to condemn Tarrant County GOP chair Bo French’s “bigotry” and call for new leadership of the local party.
Parker joined Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who was the first in a hailstorm of X posts Friday night, in slamming French over a recent social media post about Jewish and Muslim people. On June 25, French posted a since-deleted poll on X, asking his nearly 29,000 followers, “Who is a bigger threat to America?” Respondents had two options: “Jews” or “Muslims.”
Patrick posted on X that “Bo French’s words do not reflect my values nor the values of the Republican Party. Antisemitism and religious bigotry have no place in Texas.” He called for French’s immediate resignation and replacement as chair of the Tarrant GOP.
Sharing Patrick’s post with an added message of her own, Parker posted: “Too many examples of @BoFrenchTX’s bigotry and hate. This is one of the most egregious examples. Go fishing on X for some of the other prime examples. Too many to list here. New leadership with @tarrantgop is a given. Clear the deck. #blessyourheart.”
Neither Parker nor French immediately returned the Fort Worth Report’s requests for comment.
Eight minutes before Patrick’s post, French posted on X to apologize for his earlier poll, writing that “some people clearly misunderstood the intent.” He said he regrets posting the poll, which he deleted.
“Let me be clear: antisemitism has no place in the Republican Party, and if you disagree with me, get out,” French wrote. “We respect the free exercise of religion and we welcome anyone of good faith who shares our conservative values and respects the Constitution.”
In a separate post, French said he respects Patrick but strongly disagrees with his “assessment of the situation” — and he’s not backing down from his seat as chair.
“I have always strongly supported Israel, and I’m not resigning,” French wrote. “I’m focused on continuing to make Tarrant County even more Republican.”
French is well known on social media for his inflammatory rhetoric surrounding various social issues and has posted often about his goal of making Tarrant County “inhospitable to Democrats” in the name of solidifying Republican dominance. The backlash from Republican leaders Friday was a rare public rebuke.
Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn shared Patrick’s post with the brief message, “I am with @DanPatrick.”
Rep. Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake, posted Friday night that “no one has done more damage to Tarrant County Republicans than Bo ‘all I do is tweet and hate’ French. His endless vitriol has dragged us down long enough. If he had an ounce of sense — or shame — he’d resign before he is thrown out.”
Republicans U.S. Rep. Craig Goldman of Fort Worth, and Texas Sen. Phil King of Weatherford also joined the chorus to demand French’s resignation.
Goldman wrote on X that “there are too many in our party who work too hard to support good people trying to do good things. As a 5th generation Jewish American I know what antisemitism looks like.”
In his own post, King said, “This pattern of reckless, incendiary rhetoric is harmful and does not reflect our party or our values.”
Tarrant County Commissioner Manny Ramirez, a Republican, said in a post that the local GOP should remain focused on its mission — to “share our party’s platform with as many community members as possible and work to elect conservative Republicans who can implement winning, results-driven policies.”
“There is no place in our movement for hateful rhetoric, including antisemitism,” Ramirez wrote.
Fort Worth City Council member Macy Hill, also a Republican, wrote, “Thank you, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick” in a post Friday night.
The Tarrant County Democratic Party chimed in on X to share screenshots of French’s poll and Patrick’s post.
“This is what happens when your fingers write checks that your (donkey emoji) can’t cash,” the account wrote.
Earlier Friday, the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations demanded French’s resignation, calling his social media poll “deeply offensive and inflammatory” in a news release. They called on French to delete the poll and issue an apology.
Shaimaa Zayan, an operations manager with the council, described French’s poll as a “blatant act of antisemitic and Islamophobic bigotry.”
“We expect elected officials and politicians to foster unity and lead with wisdom, not to promote suspicion and division,” Zayan said in the release. “By framing Jews and Muslims as potential threats to our country, this poll promotes both antisemitism and Islamophobia and adds to the unfortunately rising level of bigotry we see nationwide.”
The Tarrant GOP sent a newsletter addressed from Bo French at 9:20 p.m. Friday with the subject line: “My Response to CAIR.”
“The entrenchment of radical Islam in our county is far worse than we described last week. Since our last report on radical Islam, CAIR has called for our Chairman to step down,” the newsletter states. “Naturally, this has only motivated us to go further.”
The newsletter then went on the attack against Moujahed Bakhach, a local Muslim leader. In the newsletter, French wrote that Bakhach is “deeply involved in pro-terrorist activity.”
“No matter how much Democrats and their liberal Republican allies try to cover for radical Islam, we will not be fooled and will continue to expose it,” the newsletter states. “People like this want our county destroyed. They think that sending their watchdogs in the liberal media will scare us off. No matter how many times CAIR, the leftist media, or other radicals come after us, we will not back down.”
Neither CAIR representatives nor Bakhach immediately returned the Report’s requests for comment.