Republican Bo French is running for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission. Credit: Facebook / Bo French

Republican Texas Railroad Commission candidate Bo French is grabbing headlines again, this time for an old tweet calling for the execution of the nation’s first Black president.

In a May 2020 tweet uncovered by CNN, French — using a since-suspended X account — called for the execution of former President Barack Obama and others in his administration. French called for the public executions after claiming the officials had pushed false information about Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election.

“The penalty for treason used to be death. Even for a former president. #HangEmHigh,” French tweeted.

French’s new scandal comes after he caused a national uproar earlier this month over a tweet insinuating white Americans were being replaced at the University of Texas in Austin by Southeast Asians. It also comes after GOP operative Karl Rove called French a “bigot” over the weekend at Austin’s Texas Tribune Festival.

The 2020 tweet isn’t the first time French has called for extrajudicial killings, according to CNN’s reporting. In February of last year, the former Tarrant County GOP chairman called for the execution of government officials he claimed were “exposed” by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)​, the news outlet reports.

“I want more than perp walks. I want public executions,” French wrote in response to another X user’s tweet.

The recently surfaced social media statements come as French has emerged as a potential liability for a Texas GOP already facing serious voter backlash in the upcoming midterm election.

“When you get down to Bo French on the ticket, it’s possible enough voters know who is and what he’s said that he goes down,” Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson told the Current.

Indeed, Rove during his Saturday appearance pledged to vote for French’s Democratic opponent, Jon Rosenthal, adding that he’s concerned “Nazis” are being accepted into the Republican Party.

Over the past year, French has been embroiled in an exhaustive list of scandals, many of them originating from his X account.

In June 2025, he grabbed national media attention after posting a poll on the social media platform asking whether Jews or Muslims pose a greater threat to the U.S. Months later, he called for the mass deportation of Native Americans.

In another tweet, he referred to Black Americans as “chimps.”

Texas voters have until Oct. 5 to update their voter registrations for the upcoming midterms. Early voting runs Oct. 19-30. Election Day is Nov. 3.

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Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...