Bo French Wants Texas to Be the New Rhodesia. His Opponent Just Wants to Keep the Heat On.
When Jon Rosenthal announced his campaign last fall for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, he never expected to talk about the short-lived Republic of Rhodesia. Rosenthal, a 63-year-old mechanical engineer and Democratic state representative from northwest Houston, is the kind of politician you might expect to show interest in the influential but little-understood […]
Jon Rosenthal, a 63-year-old Democratic state representative from northwest Houston, entered the race for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission with a pragmatic slate of ideas to improve the oil and gas industry. He aimed to weatherize natural gas networks and clean up abandoned wells. His opponent, Bo French, a Republican with minimal industry experience and a controversial platform, emerged as the nominee in a bitter May runoff.
French's platform calls for deporting 100 million people, purging the nation of Muslims, and emulating a defunct apartheid state. Despite his notoriety, French has been backed by Texas Republican leaders such as Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton. Rosenthal views the Railroad Commission position as the culmination of his life's work, having spent 25 years in the oil and gas industry.
He is motivated by the state government's slow response to Winter Storm Uri in 2021, which led to hundreds of deaths. French's Islamophobia and call for ethnic cleansing, including deporting Muslims and purging the nation of Muslims, are central to his candidacy.
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