{"id":145724,"date":"2025-08-14T18:19:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T18:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/145724\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T18:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T18:19:10","slug":"tarrant-county-gop-leader-takes-aim-at-muslim-texas-lawmaker-in-online-tirade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/145724\/","title":{"rendered":"Tarrant County GOP leader takes aim at Muslim Texas lawmaker in online tirade"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">The leader of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2025\/05\/27\/gop-redistricting-plan-could-reshape-tarrant-county-politics\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2025\/05\/27\/gop-redistricting-plan-could-reshape-tarrant-county-politics\/\">Tarrant County Republican Party<\/a> is targeting a Muslim state House member this week, one month after some of the state\u2019s top Republicans called for his resignation over similar online conduct.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Tarrant County GOP Chairman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2025\/06\/28\/dan-patrick-tells-local-gop-chair-to-resign-for-posting-online-poll-on-jews-muslims\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2025\/06\/28\/dan-patrick-tells-local-gop-chair-to-resign-for-posting-online-poll-on-jews-muslims\/\">Bo French<\/a> asked federal officials to denaturalize and deport state House Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2024\/04\/10\/lawmakers-interfaith-iftar-dinner-draws-north-texas-political-religious-leaders\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2024\/04\/10\/lawmakers-interfaith-iftar-dinner-draws-north-texas-political-religious-leaders\/\">Salman Bhojani<\/a>, who was born in Pakistan and is a U.S. citizen. In multiple posts this week on X, French called Bhojani an \u201canti-American democrat\u201d and said he is trying to \u201cfurther jihad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Bhojani, a Democrat who represents parts of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/2025\/06\/18\/how-make-america-healthy-again-came-for-a-snow-cone-stand-in-arlington\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/2025\/06\/18\/how-make-america-healthy-again-came-for-a-snow-cone-stand-in-arlington\/\">Arlington<\/a>, Euless and Bedford, was elected in 2022 as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2022\/11\/09\/texas-voters-elect-states-first-ever-muslim-lawmakers-including-dallas-area-attorney\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2022\/11\/09\/texas-voters-elect-states-first-ever-muslim-lawmakers-including-dallas-area-attorney\/\">first Muslim<\/a> and first South Asian state representative in Texas. In a phone interview Thursday with The Dallas Morning News, Bhojani said French does not represent Texans he knows.<\/p>\n<p>Political Points<\/p>\n<p class=\"dmnc_features-cta-social-cta-social-module__zWZy- mb-4\">Get the latest politics news from North Texas and beyond.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate people like Bo French are engaging in this sort of red meat politics for their own political gain,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are just very extreme ideological folks who are out there to give hate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">This is not the first time Bhojani has faced attacks over his religion. While running for Euless City Council in 2018, then <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2018\/04\/26\/texas-lawmaker-aims-muslim-as-epithet-against-euless-city-council-candidate\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2018\/04\/26\/texas-lawmaker-aims-muslim-as-epithet-against-euless-city-council-candidate\/\">Rep. Jonathan Stickland told voters<\/a> that Bhojani is \u201ca Muslim, lawyer, and a lifelong Democrat\u201d who would bring \u201cmassive changes\u201d to the suburb. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1024 \/ 844\"   class=\"dmnc_images-modern-image-module__QFaG- max-w-full h-auto text-white dmnc_images-modern-image-module__9Zlll bg-gray-light object-contain\" width=\"1024\" height=\"844\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/6QMIMWMNRK574KJOPGWUHDSNAE.jpg\" alt=\"Salman Bhojani, a Democrat who represents parts of Arlington, Euless and Bedford, was...\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Salman Bhojani, a Democrat who represents parts of Arlington, Euless and Bedford, was elected in 2022 as the first Muslim and first South Asian state representative in Texas.<\/p>\n<p>Louis DeLuca<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">French, who has served as the head of the Tarrant County Republican Party since 2023, is known for his confrontational style on social media, where he frequently posts conspiracy theories and attacks on political opponents. French did not respond to two emails seeking comment Thursday from The News.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">In June, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/person\/42ba8291-a923-354c-767d-d44906302295\/dan-patrick\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/person\/42ba8291-a923-354c-767d-d44906302295\/dan-patrick\/\">Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick<\/a>, U.S. Rep. Craig Goldman and other Republicans called for French\u2019s resignation after he posted a poll asking whether Muslims or Jews posed the \u201cbigger threat to America.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">\u201cBo French\u2019s words do not reflect my values nor the values of the Republican Party,\u201d Patrick wrote on X at the time. \u201cAntisemitism and religious bigotry have no place in Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">French deleted the poll but said he would not resign. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">This week, French accused Bhojani of lying about being in Pakistan, where the lawmaker traveled earlier this month for a family medical emergency. Bhojani and Texas Democrats later shared photos of his passport stamp and boarding pass with reporters. On Monday, Bhojani said his aunt\u2019s condition was improving and that he was returning to the U.S., where he would join other House Democrats in Chicago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">More than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2025\/08\/07\/abbott-threatens-to-remove-texas-democrats-from-office-can-he-legally-do-that\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/politics\/2025\/08\/07\/abbott-threatens-to-remove-texas-democrats-from-office-can-he-legally-do-that\/\">50 House Democrats left the state<\/a> to block a Republican redistricting plan that seeks to flip five U.S. House seats from Democratic to Republican control. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">Bhojani said he was disappointed that French\u2019s comments about Islam have not spurred the same calls for resignation that his previous post mentioning the Jewish faith.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">\u201cAs elected officials, we should be treating every Texan the same regardless of their religion or background,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should have equality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">French has also published addresses online that he said belonged to Bhojani, who said his family is receiving threats. Bhojani said he has hired private security for his parents, wife and children as threats against public officials grow. The recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/national\/2025\/06\/14\/minnesota-lawmaker-husband-fatally-shot-in-politically-motivated-attack-governor-says\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/news\/national\/2025\/06\/14\/minnesota-lawmaker-husband-fatally-shot-in-politically-motivated-attack-governor-says\/\">assassination of a Democratic state lawmaker <\/a>and her husband in their home in Minnesota has weighed heavily on him, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-text-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019m an elected official, but my family did not sign up for this,\u201d he said. \u201cI hope people understand that threats online can manifest in physical violence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The leader of the Tarrant County Republican Party is targeting a Muslim state House member this week, one&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":145725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,7371,7372,80,365,7375,358,7376,5524,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-145724","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fort-worth","10":"tag-fortworth","11":"tag-politics","12":"tag-religion","13":"tag-tarrant-county","14":"tag-texas","15":"tag-texas-legislature","16":"tag-texas-politics","17":"tag-tx","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115028503237329018","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}