Texas county GOP chairman tweets homophobic comment about Harris supporters

The chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party is under fire for tweeting that people who support Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy are “gay” or “retarded.”

Chairman Bo French fired off his comment Monday morning on social media platform X, following former President Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, which drew attention due to speakers’ racist and vulgar remarks.

In the tweet, French created a poll stating, “If you believe Kamala’s policies are better for Americans than Trump’s policies, you are…” The four available answers were “Ignorant,” “A liar,” “Retarded,” and “Gay.”

In a subsequent tweet, French dug the hole even deeper.

“I want to clarify something. This is important,” French wrote. “Voting for Kamala does not make you gay. If you vote for Kamala, you are already gay.”

French’s tweets have since been hidden on his X page.

The Tarrant County GOP didn’t immediately respond to the Current‘s request for comment.

Even so, plenty on social media were happy to offer their assessment of French’s homophobic remarks.

Texas Monthly reporter Forrest Wilder, who shared screenshots of French’s tweets, blamed the rhetoric at Trump’s New York rally, specifically that of MAGA comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, for emboldening the county chairman.

“MAGA saw Tony Hinchcliffe launder unadulterated bigotry into ‘jokes’ at Trump’s rally last night and now they’re all road-testing their best material,” Wilder tweeted. “Here’s the Tarrant County GOP chair’s turn at the open mic.”

Meanwhile, Texas Observer investigative reporter Steven Monacelli expressed surprise that French, who leads the nation’s largest red county, believes homophobia is a “winning strategy.”

Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth and its suburbs, has more than 1.3 million registered voters.

Tarrant County GOP Precinct Chair Stacy Reddy resigned following French’s tweets, citing the party’s “wife in the kitchen” mindset and “puzzling hate toward gat people,” according to longtime Fort Worth Star-Telegram columnist Bud Kennedy.

“I’m a diehard conservative — small government, minimal taxes, personal freedom first, but I’m finding it hard to recognize the GOP in Tarrant County these days,” Reddy wrote in a Facebook post that Kennedy shared in a tweet.

Monday’s tweets aren’t the first controversy French has stirred up this election season.

Last week, the chairman tweeted out video of a man in the Fort Worth suburb of White Settlement alleging without proof that a polling machine switched his vote. The clip has since gone viral.  

“I voted for one president, checked it on the video screen. When I got the paper ballot, it had the other candidate’s name on it,” the man claimed.

In a statement to the Star-Telegram, the company that makes the machines used in Tarrant County, Hart InterCivic, denied allegations that its equipment alters voters’ ballots.

“Tarrant County’s voting devices are among the most secure in the nation and do not ‘flip votes,’” a spokesperson for Hart InterCivic told the daily in an emailed statement. “The devices are tested and certified at the state and federal level and were successfully tested locally in Tarrant County prior to the start of Early Voting.”

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This article appears in Oct 16-29, 2024.