Texas Democrats have not won a statewide race since the 1990s, yet heading into the 2026 midterms, Republican strategists are sounding the alarm about the Lone Star State. Some polls — including a Telemundo survey reported by The Hill — show centrist Democratic nominee James Talarico with small single-digit leads over state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a competitive U.S. Senate race. At the same time, Bo French — described in the report as a "MAGA conspiracy theorist" and the GOP nominee for Texas railroad commissioner — has drawn criticism so sharp that veteran Republican strategist Karl Rove said he will vote for French's Democratic opponent, Jon Rosenthal, an endorsement reported by the Texas Tribune.

According to New York Times reporter Lauren McGaughy, a "fracture" among Texas Republicans is now threatening the party's prospects in the midterms.

McGaughy notes that over the weekend, French "rocketed to national attention — almost all of it negative — after posting racist attacks on University of Texas students as they enjoyed a moment of pure elation at their football team's improbable comeback victory."

"In one post," McGaughy writes, "Mr. French described South Asian students at the school as 'foreigners' who had 'displaced' Americans at the state's flagship university." She adds that the posts struck a chord in a way French's earlier anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim comments had not, threatening the Texas Republicans' attempts at solidarity and testing their willingness to criticize one of their own — just weeks before midterm voting begins. French denied that his posts were racist and instead threw the blame back on Republicans who did not fully support his message.

The posts have also given Democrats renewed hope of winning a statewide office in Texas for the first time in a generation, McGaughy reports. While much of the national focus has been on the U.S. Senate race between Paxton, the scandal-plagued attorney general, and Talarico, state party officials believe French and another anti-immigrant hardliner, Don Huffines, are particularly vulnerable. The hardliners on the Republican slate, she notes, may help Democrats in other races as well. That makes the response from Republican leaders, along with the prospects of those vulnerable candidates, part of the broader midterm contest over whether the party can maintain unity.

President Donald Trump attacked Rove as a "RINO" for coming out against French and calling him a "bigot," but Rove is not the only Republican criticizing the Texas railroad commissioner nominee.

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows called on French to delete Sunday's post, McGaughy observes. Sen. John Cornyn, who lost the primary to Paxton, urged Republicans to condemn French's "intolerance and racism."

When asked about the antisemitism directed at his opponent, French told The Times at last week's convention that Rosenthal was "not practicing Jewish." Rosenthal pushed back. "Anyone that thinks it's their job to pass judgment on whether I'm Jewish or not can shove it," he said.

This article is based on original reporting published by Alternet.