The Absurdity of Attacking Texas’s Beloved Grocery Chain Over Halal Food
If you want to start a fight in Texas, there are a few reliable methods: question someone’s barbecue technique, root for the wrong football team, or — apparently — stock halal products at H-E-B.
Last weekend, Alexander Duncan, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Texas, posted on X that H-E-B’s decision to carry halal food was “despicable,” calling on his followers to help “eradicate” Islam entirely.
HEB pandering to Islam by offering Halal is despicable. The pandering to Islam must end, and we must eradicate this sick, evil, demonic ideology in its entirety. https://t.co/AOnomE4feB
— Alexander Duncan (@AlexDuncanTX) April 13, 2026
The post was a quote-tweet of another user who had snapped a photo of halal products on a shelf at an H-E-B in Melissa, Texas, captioned “insane.” Duncan’s response escalated it into something uglier: a call not just to boycott a grocery store, but to annihilate the religion of over a billion people.
Texans,
— Dust & Hustle (@dust_hustle) April 14, 2026
H-E-B keeps pretending to be “Texas Proud” while pushing Crescent halal meats, Pride/DEI sponsorships, family drag events, 47+ H-1B visas over American workers, and funding both political sides.
United Supermarkets (Lubbock-based with real West Texas roots since 1916)… pic.twitter.com/0JYKgIzcyJ
If I see any halal trash at my local @HEB, I am covering all of it in every pork product I can find in the store.
— Sҽαɳ 🇺🇸⚓️ (@doc_1029) April 15, 2026
HEB is supposed to be our Texas pride, not some woke, Islamic catering trash.
The internet had thoughts.
Replies flooded in, and most were not sympathetic to Duncan. Many Texans — including conservatives — pushed back hard, pointing out that halal is simply an Islamic dietary standard, functionally comparable to the kosher certifications found in grocery stores across the country. Others went straight to defending H-E-B itself, which in Texas is less a grocery chain and more a civic institution.
If you hate HEB and everything they've done for the people of this state (more than our current politicians btw) then you shouldn't call yourself a Texan https://t.co/k1KzI3kodz
— noah ࣪⛥. ode to love (@ItBoyYeonjunnie) April 16, 2026
I shopped @HEB today just to piss off the maga snowflakes who want to boycott it over them offering halal meat. I love HEB!
— Spriggs (@spriggsbearderg) April 15, 2026
Thank you for everything you do for Texans.
It's a grocery store, I've never been to one that doesn't have an international section. They are not changing all their meats over to halal, they are just adding a small section of some in some stores where an existing customer base already exists. It's not a big deal
— Dakota Mitchell (@dakmitch) April 15, 2026
Apparently people are mad HEB is offering halal meats to target a customer base and pricing those meats based on their supplier costs and as it turns out the halal meats are less expensive than the standard meat offering. They think it’s unfair. Just buy the halal meats.
— Ryan, Perdido en TX (@RyanLostinTX) April 16, 2026
As a conservative, I think the outrage over HEB stocking some Halal meat is pretty absurd. It’s a grocery store meeting customer demand in a specific area — not forcing Sharia law on anyone. Just don’t buy it and move on, like we do with Kosher sections or any other specialty…
— 🇺🇸🤘 Tinman 🤘🇺🇸 (@tehoem88) April 16, 2026
Don’t Come for H-E-B
To understand why this particular attack landed so badly, you have to understand what H-E-B means to Texans. Founded in 1905 in Kerrville by Florence Butt, the chain has grown into a fiercely homegrown empire of over 400 stores, beloved for its store-brand products, its obsessive customer service, and its deep roots in Texas communities. When Hurricane Harvey struck in 2017, H-E-B deployed disaster relief trucks within hours. When catastrophic flooding hit Texas in the summer of 2025, the grocer earned the nickname “FEMA of Texas” after dispatching its disaster response units within 24 hours — prompting viral social media posts declaring “We don’t need to wait on FEMA… we’ve got H-E-B.”
I THOUGHT MEGA CHURCHES WERE THE CULT . I WAS WRONG . IT’S H-E-B 🍦🏪 pic.twitter.com/KB6AS3sAPj
— Éros Brousson (@erosbrousson) March 2, 2026
H-E-B doesn’t just sell groceries. It shows up. That’s a powerful thing in a state that prides itself on self-reliance, and it’s why attacking the chain for simply serving all its customers tends to backfire badly.
Part of a Larger Pattern
Duncan’s post wasn’t an isolated outburst. It fits neatly into a broader and deeply troubling trend inside the Texas GOP.
Pres. Trump is moving to designate Muslim Brotherhood chapters as terrorist groups.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 25, 2025
HUGE step.
Pres. Trump is right to make this federal designation.
It aligns with the Texas designation that the Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization. https://t.co/XyWk5eSbAY
In the run-up to the Texas primaries, the issue taking center stage has not been affordability, inflation, or the border — it’s religion. Specifically, Islam. What began as a crowded field of Republican hopefuls jockeying for attention has devolved, in the words of one NBC opinion piece, into “a campaign of bigotry,” with one GOP consultant telling Politico the anti-Muslim message is “solid gold” with primary voters.
From the state’s white-hot GOP Senate primary to local races, Republican candidates have been pledging to fight hardest against a proposed Muslim-centric residential development north of Dallas, and using terms like “Sharia law” as political weapons. At a recent CPAC panel in Grapevine titled “Don’t Sharia My Texas,” former Tarrant County GOP chair Bo French openly said Republicans should more brazenly embrace Islamophobia.
At CPAC, Bo French embraced the banner of Islamophobia and called for the deportation of 100 million people — a third of the country.
— Kayla Guo (@kaylaguo_) March 27, 2026
“We call it Sharia [law], but the problem is actually Islam,” French, a GOP candidate for statewide office, said. https://t.co/ko7HNNkusi
The abruptness with which Islamophobia has reemerged suggests something less organic and more cynical, according to Texas Monthly — with the midterms approaching and Trump not on the ticket, opposition to a supposed “Muslim invasion” gives every Republican candidate something to run on.
Against that backdrop, Duncan’s H-E-B post reads as exactly what it is: a Senate candidate searching for a culture-war flashpoint, and landing on a grocery store carrying food that Muslims can eat.
What It Actually Means
Halal certification, like kosher certification, tells observant consumers that food has been prepared according to their religious guidelines. It is not a political statement. It is not an infiltration. It is a grocery store serving its customers — which, in a state as diverse as Texas, includes Muslim Texans who shop, pay taxes, and yes, buy groceries.
As Muslim community leader Sameena Karmally put it: “These congressmen and state representatives live in neighborhoods where Muslims live. They shop at stores where Muslims shop.”
In trying to make H-E-B a symbol of Islamic encroachment, Duncan managed instead to remind Texans of something they already know: H-E-B belongs to everyone.
And in Texas, that’s not something you get to take away.
Sources:
- Texas Tribune — “Anti-Islam rhetoric takes over Texas GOP primaries” (Jan. 26, 2026) https://www.texastribune.org/2026/01/26/texas-republicans-sharia-law-anti-muslim-rhetoric/
- Politico — “Republicans go all-in on ‘Sharia law’ attacks ahead of Texas primary” (Jan. 26, 2026) https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/26/republicans-go-all-in-on-sharia-law-attacks-ahead-of-texas-primary-00745647
- Texas Monthly — “Inside the Texas GOP’s Anti-Muslim Campaigning” (Feb. 9, 2026) https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-republicans-anti-muslim-midterm-elections/
- NBC News (Opinion) — “Islamophobia takes center stage in Texas GOP primary campaigns” (Feb. 21, 2026) https://www.ms.now/opinion/texas-republican-primary-radical-islam-islamophobia
- Texas Tribune — “At CPAC, Texas Railroad Commissioner candidate Bo French calls for deportation of 100 million people” (March 27, 2026) https://www.texastribune.org/2026/03/27/texas-cpac-bo-french-islamophobia-muslim-railroad-commissioner-deport/
- Texas Standard — “Texas Republicans revive anti-Muslim messaging in races across the state” (Feb. 11, 2026) https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/texas-republicans-revive-anti-muslim-messaging-in-races-across-the-state/
- CNN Politics — “‘It’s solid gold’: Some Texas Republicans ramp up criticisms of Muslims to energize primary voters” (April 11, 2026) https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/11/politics/texas-republicans-muslim-criticism-primaries
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