Bo French
From Ballotpedia - Reading time: 13 min
Bo French (Republican Party) ran for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 99. French lost in the Republican primary on March 6, 2018.
French ran in one of 48 contested Texas state legislative Republican primaries in 2018. To read more about the conflict between Republican factions in the primaries, including who the factions were, which races were competitive and who key influencers lined up behind, click here.
Biography[edit]
Bo French was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He graduated from New Mexico Military Institute. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from Texas Christian University in 1993. French's career experience includes starting his own investment firm.[1]
Campaign themes[edit]
2016[edit]
French's campaign website highlighted the following issues:
| “ |
Immigration and Border Security: I am deeply concerned about the lack of security on our border and our broken immigration system. Our government continues to look the other way instead of instituting real reforms, such as eliminating the magnets of chain migration, in-state tuition, free healthcare and education. Politicians in Austin have done very little to protect our state from this burden, which is unsustainable. The lawlessness from this administration must stop and as Texans we can do better. Education: I support local control of schools including charter schools and any other system that protects parents’ rights to ensure their child gets a great education. We are punishing low-income children by forcing them to stay in underperforming schools. If we don’t unchain our youth from the shackles of our current system, every generation that follows will be worse off than we are now, and American exceptionalism will become a thing of the past. Budget and the Economy: I believe we should, at minimum, institute a cap on the growth of government at no more than population plus inflation and then work to reduce the burden on taxpayers. The Legislature should institute zero-based budgeting making every agency budget for their needs instead of adding to what they already get. Nothing will spur our economy more quickly than our hard working taxpayers keeping a larger percentage of their money so they can spend, invest, or risk it on new business. That is the key to economic growth. Family Values: We cannot expect prosperity when we continue to kick out pillars, redefine what a family unit looks like, redefine the purpose of family, and redefine how God intends a family to operate with two equal in value individuals who have distinct roles and responsibilities. This is a direct attack on our religious liberty. I will strongly defend traditional family values; it is the only way to preserve our society. States Rights: We are blessed to have choices in this country; with 50 different states acting as 50 laboratories of democracy, people can choose which state’s policies work the best for them. The states should be pushing back against an increasingly out of control central government. Other states are looking to Texas to lead the fight against this overreach and I will lead the charge to ensure we remain the tip of the spear.[2] |
” |
| —Bo French[3] | ||
Elections[edit]
2018[edit]
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 99
Incumbent Charlie Geren defeated Michael Stackhouse in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 99 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Charlie Geren (R) | 64.3 | 38,048 |
 | Michael Stackhouse (D) | 35.7 | 21,111 | |
| Total votes: 59,159 | |||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 99
Michael Stackhouse advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 99 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michael Stackhouse | 100.0 | 4,241 |
| Total votes: 4,241 | |||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 99
Incumbent Charlie Geren defeated Bo French in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 99 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Charlie Geren | 56.8 | 7,909 |
 | Bo French | 43.2 | 6,014 | |
| Total votes: 13,923 | |||
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Overview of 2018 Republican primaries[edit]
The 2018 Texas state legislative Republican primaries featured conflict between two factions. One group was opposed to House Speaker Joe Straus (R) and his preferred policies on issues like education financing and property taxes. The anti-Straus wing included members of the Texas Freedom Caucus and organizations such as Empower Texans and Texas Right to Life. The other group was supportive of Straus and his policy priorities. The pro-Straus wing included incumbent legislators allied with Straus and organizations such as the Associated Republicans of Texas and the Texas Association of Business. To learn more about these factions and the conflict between them, visit our page on factional conflict among Texas Republicans.
The primaries occurred on March 6, 2018, with runoffs on May 22, 2018. There were 48 contested state legislative Republican primaries, outnumbering contested primaries in 2016 (43) and 2014 (44). To see our full coverage of the state legislative Republican primaries, including who key influencers were backing and what the primaries meant for the 2019 House speaker's race, visit our primary coverage page.
The charts below outline the March 6 primary races for the state Senate and the state House. They show how the factions performed on election night.
| Texas Senate Republicans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before March 6 primaries | After March 6 primaries | |
| Pro-Straus | 2 | 1 | |
| Anti-Straus | 1 | 3 | |
| Unknown | 3 | 3 | |
| Open seats | 1 | - | |
| Runoffs | - | - | |
| Too close to call | - | - | |
| Total | 7 | 7 | |
| Texas House Republicans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before March 6 primaries | After March 6 primaries | |
| Pro-Straus | 20 | 20 | |
| Anti-Straus | 4 | 9 | |
| Unknown | 2 | 5 | |
| Open seats | 15 | - | |
| Runoffs | - | 7 | |
| Too close to call | - | - | |
| Total | 41 | 41 | |
Primary we watched[edit]
This primary was one of 48 we tracked for the March 6 elections.
Did the incumbent file to run for re-election?
| Yes. |
What made this a race to watch?
| The Texas Observer identified this Republican primary as potentially competitive. The race featured a rematch of a 2016 primary between incumbent Charlie Geren, a Joe Straus ally, and Bo French. In 2016, Geren defeated French by a 16.5 percent margin.[4] As of January 31, 2018, only French had signed the form committing to vote for the Republican caucus' choice for speaker on the House floor. French said he might join the Texas Freedom Caucus if elected.[5] Support and endorsements for French
Endorsements for Geren |
Campaign finance[edit]
2016[edit]
Elections for the Texas House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on March 1, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was December 14, 2015.[9]
Incumbent Charlie Geren defeated Dan Hawkins in the Texas House of Representatives District 99 general election.[10]
| Texas House of Representatives, District 99 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Charlie Geren Incumbent |
82.79% | 45,201 | |
| Libertarian | Dan Hawkins | 17.21% | 9,393 | |
| Total Votes | 54,594 | |||
| Source: Texas Secretary of State | ||||
Incumbent Charlie Geren defeated Bo French in the Texas House of Representatives District 99 Republican Primary.[11][12]
| Texas House of Representatives, District 99 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Charlie Geren Incumbent |
58.23% | 13,312 | |
| Republican | Bo French | 41.77% | 9,551 | |
| Total Votes | 22,863 | |||
Primary[edit]
- Main article: Notable Texas primaries, 2016
Geren received the endorsements of the following state professional groups:[13][14][15]
French received the endorsements of the following state conservative groups:[16]
- Texans for Fiscal Responsibility
- Conservative Republicans of Texas
- Texas Right to Life
- Texas Home School Coalition
- National Association for Gun Rights
- Texas Values Action
The Fort Worth Star‑Telegram called the race between Geren and French "one of the most costly, controversial local races that pits moderate conservatives against movement conservatives." Describing himself as part of "the next generation of conservative leaders," French received the support of conservative groups and donors trying to oust representatives like Geren for being too moderate. Meanwhile, Geren received "strong support from the Fort Worth business community and the Austin lobby," according to Mark P. Jones, a political science professor at Rice University.[17]
2016 Republican National Convention[edit]
- See also: Republican National Convention, 2016
| Bo French | |
| Republican National Convention, 2016 | |
| Status: | District-level delegate |
| Congressional district: | 12 |
| State: | Texas |
| Bound to: | Ted Cruz |
| Delegates to the RNC 2016 | |
| Calendar and delegate rules overview • Types of delegates • Delegate rules by state • State election law and delegates • Delegates by state | |
French was a district-level delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Texas. French was one of 104 delegates from Texas bound by state party rules to support Ted Cruz at the convention.[18] Cruz suspended his campaign on May 3, 2016. At the time, he had approximately 546 bound delegates. For more on what happened to his delegates, see this page.
Delegate rules[edit]
At-large delegates from Texas to the national convention were selected by a state nominations committee and approved by the Texas State GOP Convention in May 2016. District-level delegates were elected by congressional districts at the state convention and then approved by the convention as a whole. At the national convention, all delegates were bound on the first ballot unless their candidate withdrew from the race or released his or her delegates. A delegate remained bound on the second ballot if his or her candidate received at least 20 percent of the total vote on the first ballot. On the third and subsequent ballots, all delegates were to become unbound.
Texas primary results[edit]
- See also: Presidential election in Texas, 2016
| Texas Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
| Jeb Bush | 1.2% | 35,420 | 0 | |
| Ben Carson | 4.2% | 117,969 | 0 | |
| Chris Christie | 0.1% | 3,448 | 0 | |
| Ted Cruz |
43.8% | 1,241,118 | 104 | |
| Carly Fiorina | 0.1% | 3,247 | 0 | |
| Lindsey Graham | 0.1% | 1,706 | 0 | |
| Elizabeth Gray | 0.2% | 5,449 | 0 | |
| Mike Huckabee | 0.2% | 6,226 | 0 | |
| John Kasich | 4.2% | 120,473 | 0 | |
| Rand Paul | 0.3% | 8,000 | 0 | |
| Marco Rubio | 17.7% | 503,055 | 3 | |
| Rick Santorum | 0.1% | 2,006 | 0 | |
| Donald Trump | 26.8% | 758,762 | 48 | |
| Other | 1% | 29,609 | 0 | |
| Totals | 2,836,488 | 155 | ||
| Source: Texas Secretary of State and CNN | ||||
Delegate allocation[edit]
Texas had 155 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, 108 were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's 36 congressional districts). District-level delegates were allocated on a proportional basis; a candidate had to win at least 20 percent of the primary vote in a district in order to be eligible to receive any of that district's delegates. If only one candidate met the 20 percent threshold in a district, he or she won all of the district's delegates. If two candidates met this threshold, the first place finisher received two of the district's delegates; the second place finisher received the remaining delegate. If no candidate won 20 percent of the vote, the top three finishers in a district each received one of the district's delegates. If a candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote in a district, he or she received all of the district's delegates.[19][20]
Of the remaining 47 delegates, 44 served at large. At-large delegates were allocated on a proportional basis; a candidate had to win at least 20 percent of the statewide primary vote in order to be eligible to receive any of the state's at-large delegates. If only one candidate broke the 20 percent threshold, the second place finisher still received a portion of the state's at-large delegates. If a candidate won more than 50 percent of the statewide vote, he or she received all of the state's at-large delegates. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as bound delegates to the Republican National Convention.[19][20]
Recent news[edit]
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Bo French Texas House. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also[edit]
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Texas House of Representatives elections, 2018
- State legislative special elections, 2018
- Texas House of Representatives
- Texas House of Representatives District 99
- Texas House of Representatives elections, 2016
- Texas State Legislature
External links[edit]
- Search Google News for this topic
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook page
- Campaign Twitter page
- LinkedIn page
- Texas Legislature website
- Texas House of Representatives
Footnotes[edit]
- ↑ Bo French | Republican for State House, "About Bo," accessed February 17, 2018
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Bo French for Texas House, "Issues," accessed February 23, 2016
- ↑ Texas Observer, "Four Things to Watch as Election 2018 Gets Underway in Texas," December 13, 2017
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedFreedomC - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastf20 - ↑ Star-Telegram, "Geren has a record of working for Tarrant County," February 6, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedNFIB - ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Important 2016 Election Dates," accessed December 14, 2015
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2016 General Election," accessed December 2, 2016
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2016 March Primary Election Candidate Filings by County," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current Election History results," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ Charlie Geren on Twitter, "TX Manufacturers PAC endorsement," accessed February 22, 2016
- ↑ TMPA.org, "2016 primary endorsements," accessed February 22, 2016
- ↑ Texas Realtors, "Why We Support Charlie Geren," accessed February 22, 2016
- ↑ Bo French, "Endorsements," accessed February 22, 2016
- ↑ Star-Telegram, "GOP battle for Texas House District 99," February 10, 2016
- ↑ Texas GOP, "National Convention," May 19, 2016
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
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