Tarrant County Republican Party leader shares derogatory comments about a Muslim member of Texas House of Representatives
In a series of controversial posts, Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French targeted Democratic state House Rep. Salman Bhojani with anti-Muslim remarks, calling him an "anti-American democrat" and urging federal officials to denaturalize and deport him because Bhojani is Muslim and born in Pakistan. French’s posts accused Bhojani of trying to "further jihad," opposing Donald Trump’s agenda, and disrupting quorum to block redistricting.
This isn't the first time French has faced criticism for his online behavior. Last year, his Republican colleagues condemned him over posts using several slurs against political opponents. After the latest incident, political leaders, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, announced investigations into the EPIC City project due to Mek's negative rhetoric, which French reposted.
Bhojani, one of the first Muslim Americans elected to the Texas Legislature since 2022, stated that these kinds of ethnic and religious attacks aren’t new to him and increased after Trump’s presidency. French even asked his followers if laws should forbid foreign-born people from holding any elected office.
Civil rights groups such as CAIR Texas denounced French’s calls to strip Bhojani’s citizenship and deport him as dangerous rhetoric, while other advocacy groups highlighted the threat of French’s statements fostering hate.
The responses to French’s remarks have resulted in calls for his removal, with Republican leaders like Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker joining the chorus. This comes after French's controversial post asking followers to choose between Jews and Muslims as a bigger threat to America.
In July 2022, French joined other Republican leaders onstage at a conference in Fort Worth, where they urged attendees to resist a Democratic campaign and embrace Christian nationalism.
Bhojani has shared photos of his passport stamps and plane tickets to Pakistan to prove his trip, following the initial backlash against French's accusations. As of Tuesday evening, French was still posting and sharing anti-Muslim tweets.
This incident is part of a pattern of targeted rhetoric against Muslim lawmakers in Texas GOP circles, eliciting strong rebukes from civil rights organizations and contributing to growing concerns about Islamophobia in Texas politics. The political leaders' direct responses to this particular incident are not explicitly detailed in the sources, but Abbott and Paxton have previously reacted to related anti-Muslim controversies.
- Breaking news reports are surfacing about new investigations into Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French's online behavior, following his anti-Muslim remarks against Democrat Salman Bhojani, a Muslim American lawmaker in Texas.
- The recent controversy, which involves French's calls to strip Bhojani's citizenship and deport him, has escalated to general-news headlines and crime-and-justice discussions, as civil rights groups denounce his statements as dangerous rhetoric and promoting hate.
- In the political realm, this incident is contributing to growing concerns about Islamophobia in Texas politics, with calls for French's removal and further discussions on what role religious and ethnic biases should play in politics.
