Election outcomes differ for Texan candidates known for anti-Islamic rhetoric

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(The Center Square) - Two Republican candidates known for their anti-Islamic rhetoric experienced opposite outcomes in their runoff elections Tuesday night in Texas. 

Neither were endorsed by President Donald Trump. One lost and one won.

In the race for state attorney general, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas lost his runoff election to state Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, by more than 140,000 votes and nine points, according to unofficial results.

Last year, Trump said he would target Roy in the primary if he ran for reelection to Congress after Roy, like U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, railed against federal spending, arguing the president and Congress were creating unsustainable debt and deficits. Roy, Massie and others held up budget bills, demanding fiscal restraint. Both lost their primaries within roughly one week of each other.

Trump’s ire with Roy was notable after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, after Roy argued Trump had engaged in “clearly impeachable conduct.” 

In the 2024 Republican presidential primary election in Texas, Roy endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In 2023, Roy and DeSantis campaigned in Texas, advocating that DeSantis had the strongest border security plan in the country.

Roy, who’s been in office since 2019, hasn’t previously prioritized Islamic issues. After he announced his run for attorney general, he began increasingly making public statements and filing bills targeting Islamic ideology, leaders, mosques and other issues related to American Muslims.

In December, he co-launched an anti-Sharia caucus in the U.S. House and subsequently held hearings, during which no Islamic scholars or those with credible expertise on Islamic ideology, jurisprudence or history, were called to testify. Critics largely characterized the hearings as shams and politically motivated in an election year.

Since then, and several times a week leading up to the runoff election, Roy filed bills related to Islam, including to denaturalize American Muslims, that were seen to have no chance of being passed, The Center Square reported. 

While some argued his efforts appealed to far right voters, it wasn’t enough, and he lost.

In the race for Texas railroad commissioner, former Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French barely defeated Railroad Commission Chairman Jim Wright by a vote of 50.6% to 49.4%.

More than 1.3 million Texans voted in the close race. In some counties, the race came down to two votes. 

In others, French and Wright were tied, according to unofficial results.

The commission, considered one of the most important state agencies, regulates the multi-trillion- dollar oil and natural gas industry, the economic lifeblood of Texas.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who endorsed Wright, said French “doesn’t know anything about oil and gas. His agenda would wreck the miracle that we have in producing more oil and gas than ever before.” 

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Republican Tarrant County precinct chairs previously called on French to resign after he repeatedly made what was seen as derogatory comments about women, Catholics, Jews and Muslims (as threats to America), as well as gay and, in French’s words, “retarded” people, The Center Square reported. 

French has never apologized for his remarks.

One of French’s recent campaign priorities is to ban all Muslim-majority countries from purchasing land in Texas, arguing “Islam poses an existential threat to Texans’ way of life.” 

He said he was running “to put Texans back in the driver’s seat of Texas energy policy. America has been at war with Islam since the time of our Independence, and stopping the subversive influence of Islam in Texas by banning all Muslim countries from acquiring land and interfering in Texas Oil and Gas will be my top legislative priority.”

When asked which Muslim countries had purchased Texas land or are interfering in Texas oil and gas production, French did not respond to requests for comment. When asked if he planned to ban Saudi Aramco, one of the largest oil and gas and plastics employers in Texas, he also did not respond.

Wright, who is widely respected in the industry, implemented a series of policies and regulatory reforms while in office. They include water conservation, combatting organized crime, including oil field theft, among others. His loss is considered a major blow by industry leaders.

In November, French will face one of the most liberal outgoing members of the Texas House: Democrat Jon Rosenthal from the Houston area.

In the attorney general race, Middleton was endorsed by multiple Republican leaders in Texas after having amassed a lengthy conservative legislative record while serving in the Texas House and Senate. 

President of Middleton Oil Co., an independent oil and gas business, he’s also an attorney and runs ranching, cattle and farming operations. He doesn’t take a state pension or healthcare and donates his state legislative salary to local charities.

Middleton authored bills banning men in women’s collegiate sports and a ban on COVID-19 vaccine mandates, both of which passed and were signed into law. He’s championed bills spanning from banning policies diversity, equity and inclusion policies and banning environmental, social and governance policies to advocating for lower property taxes and eliminating taxpayer-funded lobbying. 

Middleton ran his campaign highlighting his legislative accomplishments and claiming to support the America First movement.

He faces his Texas Senate colleague in November, attorney and state Sen. Nathan Johnson.

Johnson won his Democratic runoff election Tuesday night. 

He opposed nearly all the bills Middleton voted for, and he said his “legislative record reflects a consistent emphasis on government transparency, legal clarity, and responsible use of public resources.” 

Middleton is expected to win in November.

In Roy’s district in the Hill Country in Congressional District 21, Trump’s endorsed Republican candidate, former Major League Baseball player Mark Teixeira, won a 12-candidate March 3 primary race with nearly 63% of the vote. He’s expected to defeat Democrat Kristin Hook in November.