GOP leaders tried to stop Bo French. Hate, oil money drove his victory | Opinion

The giants of Texas politics took it on the chin Tuesday night.

A Senate candidate who was nearly removed from office for bribery instead will lead the party ticket this fall, and even the full weight of Texas’ political leaders could not stop a candidate he endorsed.

Absolutely nobody in the party except Ken Paxton and local hardliners such as Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare endorsed hate-peddling online troll Bo French of Westover Hills for the Texas Railroad Commission, which actually regulates the state’s oil and gas industry.

Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, every other statewide official and the other two members of the Railroad Commission all endorsed the little-known incumbent. He was elected in an upset six years ago mainly because he had a simple-sounding name: Jim Wright.

French, an investor from a millionaire Midland oil family, has operated on the dark fringe of Republican Party politics for two years. He guested on party outcast Steve Bannon’s webcast and hosted incendiary guest speakers here, including Tucker Carlson and conspiracy freak Jack Posobiec.

Along the way, French ranted online against women, immigrants and their American children, Black Americans and anyone else he deemed unfit to share his white Christian conservative Republican county and state.

Wright, totally invisible in six years in office, lined up late support for a last-ditch, three-month runoff effort.

But he was running in the face of $1 million-plus from West Texas energy zillionaires Tim Dunn of Midland and Farris Wilks of Cisco, who have invested enough money to buy about one-third of the Legislature and can now own another energy regulator as well.

French’s November opponents are Democratic state Rep. Jon Rosenthal of Houston, an engineer, and Austin Libertarian Arthur DiBianca.

Does anybody think they can win? Even if Democratic candidate James Talarico upsets Paxton for Senate?

It would take the bluest of blue waves.

French’s victory shows once again that Dunn and Wilks completely own the Republican Party of Texas.

As far-right conservative Christian political donors — Wilks leads an Eastland County church that separated from the Church of Christ because that denomination was too liberal — they were not aligned at first with the more secular populist Donald Trump “America First” movement.

But they quickly joined up with Trump’s side as fellow disrupters, all overthrowing the party’s old business establishment in the name of God and Trump.

On Tuesday, Dunn and Wilks money helped reverse the outcome of two March 3 Republican primary elections. Besides French, an assistant under Paxton in the attorney general’s office, Thomas Smith, came from behind to win a seat on the state’s highest criminal court.

These runoffs were totally true to form.

When nominations go to a small runoff election, only the most ardent and involved voters turn out — the party hardliners.

That’s how U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz got to the Senate even though he won support from only 5% of Texas’ registered voters in his party’s 2012 runoff.

Patrick became lieutenant governor after winning runoff support from only 4% of registered voters.

Paxton won the attorney general’s office with 3%.

See?

Almost nobody votes in runoffs. So, we wind up with the most hardcore, partisan candidates.

Then, it’s up to the more broad-based leaders like Abbott to get these fringers elected.

Abbott has more than $100 million to promote the Republican ticket. Paxton’s past will make this election more of a challenge, but the attorney general starts his Senate campaign with a powerful show of support.

The idea that Republicans will face an “enthusiasm gap” this year seems very last week.

Paxton probably will lose 5% of Republicans. That’s how many Republicans don’t support Trump.

But some will vote for Austin Libertarian Ted Brown, not Talarico.

We learned from the recent University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll that even though Texans might be unhappy with the economy, the state’s voters still like Republicans a whole lot more than they do Democrats.

Texas voters also are more conservative and Bible-believing Christian now than in 2018, when Democratic Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke led a strong challenge to Cruz and other Republican incumbents.

Republicans still dominate Texas.

But these are very different Republicans.