2026年11月4日 / 美国东部时间凌晨5:04 / CBS新闻
据CBS新闻预测，民主党人乔恩·罗森塔尔赢得了得克萨斯州铁路专员选举，击败了共和党人博·弗伦奇，此前这位共和党候选人拒不悔改其带有种族主义、反穆斯林和反犹太主义的言论。
在约93%的选票被统计后，罗森塔尔以52.5%对45.6%的得票率领先弗伦奇。
得克萨斯州铁路专员这一职权显赫的职位并不负责铁路事务，而是监管该州的石油和天然气行业，该行业占美国原油产量的40%以上。该职位共有三名专员，另外两名均为共和党人。
罗森塔尔目前是来自休斯敦的州众议员，曾是一名油田工程师，在该行业工作了25年。弗伦奇原本来自米德兰，曾担任塔兰特县共和党主席。
尽管罗森塔尔与弗伦奇在石油和天然气政策上存在分歧，但本次竞选的主要争议点归结于弗伦奇针对移民、穆斯林和犹太人的有争议言论，而这一年原本就是得克萨斯州共和党艰难的一年。
在5月决胜选举前，得克萨斯州多位知名的当选共和党人联合反对弗伦奇的候选人资格，尽管他最终还是赢得了提名。9月，弗伦奇因发布内容登上全国新闻头条，他称得克萨斯大学的学生是“问题”，因为这些学生看起来是南亚裔。在同一张照片的另一条帖子中，弗伦奇写道：“正如执法记录仪暴露了罪犯，社交媒体正在揭露有多少美国人被外国人取代。”后来有几名学生站出来表示他们是美国公民。
弗伦奇发布那条帖子后不久，此前在初选中输给肯·帕克斯的共和党参议员约翰·科宁表示他不会为弗伦奇投票。包括卡尔·罗夫在内的其他得克萨斯州共和党人也表示不会为弗伦奇投票。
在发布那条关于得克萨斯大学学生的社交媒体帖子后，弗伦奇仍然筹集了超过70万美元的资金。同期，罗森塔尔筹集了超过50万美元。
即便在赢得初选之前，弗伦奇此前就曾发布过反犹太主义和反穆斯林的言论，并在其竞选纲领中表示要根除多元、公平与包容（DEI）政策，“阻止伊斯兰教入侵得克萨斯州”，以及“支持生命权和核心家庭”。
民主党人上一次赢得铁路专员选举还是在1990年。
Democrat Jon Rosenthal defeats Republican Bo French in ugly race for Texas railroad commissioner
November 4, 2026 / 5:04 AM EST / CBS News
Democrat Jon Rosenthal won the Texas Railroad Commissioner race, CBS News projects, defeating Republican Bo French after the GOP candidate refused to reconsider his racist, anti-Muslim and antisemitic comments.
With about 93% of votes counted, Rosenthal led French 52.5% to 45.6%.
The powerful Texas railroad commissioner does not deal with railroads, but instead regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, which accounts for over 40% of the U.S. crude oil output. There are three total commissioners — the other two are Republicans.
Rosenthal is currently a state representative from Houston and a former oil field engineer, who worked in the industry for 25 years. French originally hails from Midland and had been the Tarrant County Republican chairman.
Although Rosenthal and French have differences on oil and gas policy, the main issues in the race had come down to French’s controversial comments about immigrants, Muslims and Jews in what was already shaping up to be a difficult year for Texas Republicans.
Ahead of the May runoff, many of Texas’ prominent elected Republicans united against French’s candidacy, although he ultimately won the nomination. In September, French made national headlines when he posted that University of Texas students were a “problem” because the students appeared to be of South Asian descent. In another post with the same photo, French said, “Like body-cams exposed criminals, social media is exposing how many Americans have been displaced by foreigners.” Several of the students came forward later and said they were American citizens.
Shortly after his post, Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who earlier lost his primary against Ken Paxton, said he would not be voting for French. Other Texas Republicans, including Karl Rove, said they would not be voting for French.
French still raised more than $700,000 after the social media post about the UT students. Rosenthal had brought in more than $500,000 in the same time period.
Even ahead of his primary win, French had previously posted antisemitic and anti-Muslim comments and had said in his campaign platform that he wanted to root out DEI policies, “stop the Islamic invasion of Texas” and “support life and the nuclear family.”
The last time a Democrat won a race for railroad commissioner was 1990.