Texas is a strong and prosperous state.
Much of that strength and prosperity flows from the electorate’s persistent preference for limited government, low taxes and light regulation that allow business to take root and entrepreneurship to bloom.
For much of his tenure as governor, Greg Abbott, 64, has led Texas according to the pro-business, pro-independence traditions that trace to the origins of the state.
Where he has used the power of government, he has generally done so in ways that encourage economic development, protect the rule of law, reduce taxation, invest in the future and enhance public education.
He has been a reliable leader for a changing state. Texas is a top destination for new and relocating businesses. Its population is surging. Its major regions are growing. In Austin, state leaders are trying to decide how to divvy up a record $27 billion budget surplus even as residents were delivered property tax relief in the last legislative session.
None of this is in spite of the work of Abbott. It is because he has generally governed through core conservative principles that promote economic growth and protect personal liberty.
For those reasons, we recommend voters reelect him to a third term in office.
This is not an unreserved recommendation. The Republican Party of Texas that Abbott leads has become a deeply troubled organization where conspiracy theories, election denial and blind partisanship have taken root. Many of its leaders have no intention of governing broadly, but rather holding onto a narrow majority as a path to power.
Abbott is not untouched by this, though he has not wholly embraced the aggressively partisan rhetoric that defines other top elected Republican officials in Texas. He has, however, changed in his years in office and has been pulled from the pro-business moderate he once was into a far more strident leader. He has become more insular, meeting less often with a broad group of business leaders, for example, who could offer him insights that would be valuable to maintaining our growth and prosperity.
If he continues down the road he’s on and follows the worst elements of his party, it will be dangerous for the state. Business leaders across the country are looking at how Abbott and Texas Republicans have led on abortion and guns, and some are taking pause.
A majority of Texans do not agree with the near absolute ban on abortion that Abbott has supported. But it’s also true that a majority of Texans have consistently backed politicians who have called for a limit on abortion rights. Abbott would be wise to listen to the American middle and find common ground between the ban currently in place and what was the law of the land under Roe v. Wade.
On guns and in the age of terrifying mass shootings like those in Uvalde, Sutherland Springs, El Paso and Santa Fe, Abbott has to recognize that the Second Amendment does not amount to an absolute right to individual ownership of firearms. There is broad agreement that Americans have the right to bear arms but that this right has to be balanced with reasonable regulation that will make us all safer. That includes instituting red flag laws and universal background checks, limiting ammunition purchases and magazine sizes and setting an age limit at 21 on firearm purchases.
Abbott’s opponent, Democrat Beto O’Rourke, 50, continues to demonstrate that he is an effective campaigner who is willing to go into solidly red parts of this state to try to sway voters. His openness is appealing in contrast to Abbott’s insularity.
But after all of these years of campaigning, for the Senate, for president and now for governor, it’s still unclear how O’Rourke would lead. He seems to shift with the moment and the audience.
While he uses moderating language, many of his root ideas flow from progressive ideology, from eliminating the STAAR test to his statement on the campaign trail that sending state troopers and guardsmen to the border was a “solution in search of a problem.”
Many on the left reflexively condemned Abbott’s Operation Lone Star that devoted billions in state dollars to sending state law enforcement and military to the border. While there have been concerns about the program, it was a response to a genuine failure by the federal government to enforce border security.
And while his decision to bus migrants who volunteered to large self-defined sanctuary cities in the north was a stunt, it was not the cruel treatment that it was portrayed as and it did raise awareness about a true crisis.
The work of actually governing a state as big and complex as Texas requires hard decisions. Abbott has not gotten all of those decisions right. And he risks his legacy if he fails to lead this state as the pluralistic place that it is.
But his time in office has seen Texas become stronger even as we have faced major challenges. Voters should give him another term.
