Here’s how Tarrant County GOP could remove Bo French over social media ‘bigotry’
Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French has defied calls from high-ranking members of his party for a change of leadership.
The deluge of demands for his removal began on Friday evening when Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick posted to X that he was calling for French’s “immediate removal and replacement” in response to what he called “religious bigotry.”
Patrick was referring to a poll French posted on June 25 that asked if “Jews” or “Muslims” are the “biggest threat to America.”
Republicans from the U.S. Capitol down to Tarrant County precincts echoed that sentiment. Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas shared Patrick’s post, saying he is “with” the lieutenant governor. Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker and state Sen. Phil King made similar posts. One Tarrant County precinct chair told the Star-Telegram that French had “lost the moral authority to govern.”
But French did not heed the calls, and several MAGA media personalities and politicians expressed their support for him. Jack Posobiec, a political activist who came to prominence among conspiracy theorists for pushing the debunked “Pizzagate” theory in 2016, said on X that the backlash was from French’s political rivals “trying to go after him for personal reasons.”
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon expressed his support for French on his War Room podcast, saying that “the old parlor tricks” of calling French’s language antisemitic and Islamophobic “are not going to work.”
French did not respond to a request for an interview.
Patrick’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Cornyn’s office referred the Star-Telegram to a Friday post on his campaign profile on X that called for French’s resignation “over his recent racist and antisemitic comments.”
How to remove a county party chair from office
Members of the Tarrant County GOP Executive Committee have yet to comment on the backlash to French’s post, but here’s how they would go about removing him should they choose to do so.
The Tarrant County GOP defers to the general rules of the Republican Party of Texas for the procedure for removing a county party chair from office, according to a supplemental rules document on the Tarrant GOP website.
If a majority of the county executive committee votes on a resolution stating that the party chair “has failed to perform his or her duties or is no longer eligible for office,” that resolution and supporting documents are sent to the State Republican Executive Committee, according to the state party rules.
“Nothing in this rule prohibits any person affiliated with the Republican Party of Texas from causing a resolution to be considered by the State Republican Executive Committee,” the rule states.
The State Executive Committee then reviews the case to find a remedy, according to the rule. The chairman being reviewed must be notified at least seven days in advance of a meeting to consider his or her removal.
The Republican Party of Texas did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Has a county chair been removed in Texas before?
In May, Fred Taylor, the chair of the Fort Bend County Democratic Party, was removed from office over allegations that he made unauthorized purchases with party funds totaling more than $97,000.
Taylor denied the allegations, saying in a lawsuit the charges were made by his predecessors, and claimed his state party’s executive committee did not have the authority to oust him. He made the argument in a state district court later that month, but the judge dismissed the lawsuit.
The Texas Election Code contains a statute giving county and state party committees the authority to remove county or precinct chairs who have “failed to perform statutory duties” or missed four or more consecutive meetings.
Once the chair is removed from office, the county executive committee convenes to fill the vacancy.
Will French heed the calls for his resignation?
Despite calls from some of Texas’ most powerful Republicans, French will likely stay in office if action isn’t taken locally, according to Calvin Jillson, a political science professor at SMU.
“Bo French will try to ride this out, and he does have support from way outside of Fort Worth, in the MAGA-verse,” Jillson said. “But what will force him out, if he is forced out, are people much closer to him in the Republican Party in Tarrant County, the precinct chairs, for example.”
While the “more responsible voices” in the Republican Party can try to stamp out what Jillson called the “the racism and antisemitism and Islamophobia on its far-right fringe,” it will be the “people who run the party on the ground” who will ultimately decide French’s fate.
This conflict between “fringe elements” and more traditional members has plagued the Republican Party in Texas for most of the last decade, said Mark Jones, a political science fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.
Party chair elections are rarely on the radars of high-level party leaders like governors and senators, Jones said, which can end up having unexpected outcomes.
“Sometimes people get into this position and they become an embarrassment for the party,” he said.
It’s times like these, when one such officeholder takes positions that are considered extreme, that the higher-ups begin to have second thoughts about not paying as much attention to the chair races, Jones said.
While French has a “rogues’ gallery of racist and antisemites” on his side, Jones said French’s fringe beliefs will be seen as “more of a nuisance or inconvenience,” but not as representing the Republican Party as a whole.
Jillson said he expects support for French to wane and that he will ultimately give into the pressure to step down after a short-lived resistance.
“People may be sticking with him now, but as French weakens, he will be abandoned,” he said.
This story was originally published June 30, 2025 at 4:46 PM.
