Greg Abbott has been in office long enough to preside over an entirely different Texas than the one he took charge of in 2015. Now running for a historic fourth term, the Republican governor is promoting a record rooted in conservative economics, border security, energy production, and a growing number of cultural issues.
A product of Wichita Falls and later a University of Texas at Austin student, Abbott, 68, was a law school graduate of Vanderbilt and went on to become a Texas Supreme Court justice, the state’s attorney general, and eventually a governor after a fall while jogging left him paralyzed from the waist down. Texas remains critical to U.S. oil and gas production, and the governor has promoted domestic energy infrastructure as a source of investment and jobs. His stance on trade is similarly rooted in Texas’ role as an energy and manufacturing powerhouse rather than a single policy. Abbott has been unapologetic in his hawkish stance towards Iran. After U.S. military action against the Iranian regime in February, he declared Texas’ backing for President Donald Trump and ordered increased security around energy facilities, ports and the southern border. Abbott’s administration has faced repeated national scrutiny for Texas’ aggressive immigration and border policies, abortion restrictions, education rules and fights over local authority. His latest campaign continues to focus on parental rights, school restrictions, public safety and resistance to what he sees as progressive cultural policies.
