Republican Bo French denies he agreed to debate Railroad Commission opponent

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Bo French, the Republican running for a seat on the three-member board of commissioners at the Texas Railroad Commission, said he never agreed to debate his opponent, state Rep. Jon Rosenthal, disputing the Dallas Press Club’s account that he did.

“They’re lying,” French said in a text message to The Texas Tribune. “The first I ever heard from them was after Rosenthal claimed that we had agreed to a debate, which also never happened. My campaign has never had any contact with his campaign. All of it was a lie. If, in fact, they did have a conversation with me or anyone on my campaign, that would show up in their call log. They can’t produce that either because it never happened.”

Asked why he didn’t correct the record when news of the debate became public, French said: “Why when (Rosenthal’s) own lies should be enough?”

French’s recollection of the exchange contradicts the Press Club’s, which told the Tribune over text that it engaged both candidates to settle on the night of Oct. 22, but that it did not have that conversation in writing. Rosenthal, a Democrat of Cypress, in late September said he and French had agreed to face off in Dallas.

“I do have personal notes from a great many phone calls that I made to candidates in multiple races,” said Carol Donovan, who organizes debates for the Club. “For his race, I noted that both candidates were available for 10/22/26. However, since then, all attempts to contact Mr. French to confirm the debate have been unanswered.”

In messages shared with the Tribune, the Club told Rosenthal’s campaign on Sept. 15 that French was available beginning the week of Oct. 22.

In lieu of a debate, Donovan said the Club will host a podcast recording with Rosenthal. Jeff Crilley, president and chief executive of Real News Public Relations, will moderate.

French’s refusal to debate caps a week of anyone’s guess about whether it would happen at all. Rosenthal said he will still go to Dallas.

“We will still be there on Thursday,” Rosenthal, an oil field engineer and four-term legislator, wrote on X.

The Dallas event was also the only public forum in which voters would hear from candidates running for statewide office.

The election for railroad commissioner has gripped the nation’s attention largely because of French, a high-ranking conservative operative with a history of inflammatory remarks that members of his own party — including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — have rebuked. Patrick asked French to resign from his erstwhile post as head of the Tarrant County GOP following a poll asking whether Jews or Muslims were a bigger threat to America. French went viral in September for a racist post where he singled out a group of students at a University of Texas at Austin Longhorns game.

High-ranking Republicans have said they would not vote for French. Karl Rove, a former adviser for George W. Bush, said he’d break a 30-year streak of Republican-exclusive support to vote for Rosenthal. Outgoing U.S. Senator John Cornyn said he would not vote for French either, but didn’t say whether he’d vote for Rosenthal.