Former Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French has his eyes on a new job.
Former Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French has garnered plenty of controversy during his candidacy. Credit: Facebook / Bo French

Bo French, the habitually inflammatory Republican candidate for Texas Railroad Commissioner, is grasping for controversy yet again.

In a Thursday tweet, the former Tarrant County GOP chair blamed undocumented immigrants for the state’s ongoing water crisis.

“My feed is constantly full of people pushing fear on water in Texas,” French wrote on X. “I agree we should steward our water resources, but has anyone thought maybe we wouldn’t be using as much water if we didn’t have millions of illegal aliens and foreigners who steal American jobs?”

Huh?

French’s reasoning is outlandish, given that there’s strong consensus among experts about what got us here — and it isn’t “illegal aliens” and “foreigners.”

Explosive population growth, prolonged drought and heavy industrial demand from the likes of SpaceX and the state’s burgeoning data center sector have led the Texas Water Development Board to estimate the state needs to invest some $200 billion in water supply projects over the next 50 years to avoid statewide shortages.

At least one Texas community, Corpus Christi, is already running out of water due to prolonged drought conditions, aging infrastructure and high water consumption from oil refineries. The port city’s panic offers a glimpse at what the future may look like if Texas can’t get its shit together.

Even outburst-prone Republican Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who lost his bid for reelection in the March primary, has long warned about Texas’ impending water crisis. In a social media post this week, Miller accused former ally Gov. Greg Abbott of prioritizing the interests of data centers over those of everyday Texans.

“Texans deserve leaders who put Texas first — not special interests,” Miller wrote on Facebook. “I’ve been sounding the alarm about the unchecked expansion of massive data centers because I know what’s at stake: our electric grid, our water supply, our family farms and ranches, and the future of rural Texas.”

French’s latest claim is absurd, but hardly surprising. Indeed, the Republican seems willing, if not eager, to make racism and xenophobia part of his political brand.

After all, this is the same guy who said he wanted to deport Native Americans, called Black people “chimps” and made a poll on social media asking folks whether they thought Jews or Muslims were a “bigger threat to America.”

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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,...