Greg Abbott

Abbott resigned from the Texas Supreme Court in 2001 to seek the position of Lieutenant Governor of Texas.[3] His campaign for Lieutenant Governor had been running for several months when the previous attorney general, John Cornyn, vacated the post to run for the U.S. Senate.[3] He then switched his campaign to the open attorney general's position in 2002. Abbott defeated the Democratic nominee, former Austin mayor and current state senator Kirk Watson, 57% to 41%.[17] Abbott was sworn in on December 2, 2002, following fellow Republican Cornyn's election to the Senate.

Abbott expanded the attorney general's office's law enforcement division from about thirty people to more than one hundred.[3] He also created a new division called the Fugitive Unit to track down convicted sex offenders in violation of their paroles or probations.[3]

In 2003, Abbott supported the Texas Legislature's move to cap non-economic damages for medical malpractice cases at $250,000, with no built-in increases for rising cost of living.[18] The statute allows nuances for higher awards in cases of wrongful death or when more than one health care institution is involved.[18]

Abbott has spoken out against concerns such as voter fraud, infringement on the right to bear arms, and President Barack Obama's health care reform. When asked what his job entails, Abbott says: "I go into the office in the morning, I sue Barack Obama, and then I go home."[19] Abbott has filed suit against various U.S. agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services (including challenges to Obamacare), and the Department of Education, among many others.[3]

Abbott filed thirty one lawsuits against the Obama administration.[20] According to The Wall Street Journal, from Abbott's tenure as Attorney General through his first term as Governor, Texas sued the Obama administration at least forty-four times, more than any other state over the same period; court challenges included carbon-emission standards, health-care reform, transgender rights, and others.[21] The Dallas Morning News compared Abbott to Scott Pruitt, noting that both Attorneys General had repeatedly sued the federal government over its environmental regulations.[22] The Houston Chronicle noted that Abbott "led the charge against Obama-era climate regulations."[23]

Abbott has said that the state must not release Tier II Chemical Inventory Reports for security reasons, but that Texans "can ask every facility whether they have chemicals or not."[24] Koch Industries has denied that their contributions to Abbott's campaign had anything to do with his ruling against releasing the safety information.[25]

In March 2014, Abbott filed a motion to intervene with three separate Federal Court suits against Baylor Scott & White Medical Center - Plano, in which patients alleged that the hospital allowed Christopher Duntsch to perform neurosurgery despite knowing that he was a dangerous physician.[26] Abbott cited the Texas Legislature's cap on malpractice cases, along with the statute's removal of the term "gross negligence" from the definition of legal malice, as reasons for defending Baylor.[27]

On November 21, 2005, Abbott sued Sony BMG.[28][29] Texas was the first state in the nation to bring legal action against Sony BMG for illegal spyware.[28][29] The suit is also the first filed under the state's spyware law of 2005.[28][29] It alleges the company surreptitiously installed the spyware on millions of compact music discs (CDs) that consumers inserted into their computers when they played the CDs, which can compromise the systems.[29][30] On December 21, 2005, Abbott added new allegations to his lawsuit against Sony-BMG. Abbott says the MediaMax copy protection technology violates the state's spyware and deceptive trade practices laws.[28][31] He says Sony-BMG offered consumers a licensing agreement when they bought CDs and played them on their computers.[28][31] However, Abbott alleges in the lawsuit that even if consumers reject that agreement, spyware is secretly installed on their computers, posing security risks for music buyers.[28][31] Abbott said, "We keep discovering additional methods Sony used to deceive Texas consumers who thought they were simply buying music," and "[T]housands of Texans are now potential victims of this deceptive game Sony played with consumers for its own purposes."[28][31] In addition to violations of the Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware Act of 2005, which allows for civil penalties of $100,000 for each violation of the law, the alleged violations added in the updated lawsuit, on December 21, 2005, carry maximum penalties of $20,000 per violation.[31][32]

On March 2, 2005, Abbott appeared before the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., where he defended a Ten Commandments monument on grounds of the Texas State Capitol. Thousands of similar monuments were donated to cities and towns across the nation by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, who were inspired by the Cecil B. DeMille film The Ten Commandments (1956) in following years.[33] In his deposition, Abbott said that "The Ten Commandments are a historically recognized system of law."[34] The Supreme Court held in a 5–4 decision that the Texas display did not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause and was constitutional.[35]

After Abbott's oral arguments in Van Orden v. Perry, Justice John Paul Stevens commented upon Abbott's performance while in a wheelchair, "I want to thank you [...] for demonstrating that it's not necessary to stand at the lectern in order to do a fine job."[6]

In January 2013, following the approval by New York governor Andrew Cuomo of the further strengthening of the state's gun laws, Abbott advertised on news sites to internet users with Albany, N.Y. and Manhattan ZIP codes suggesting gun owners should migrate to Texas. His political campaign provided the funding. The two messages read: "Is Gov. Cuomo looking to take your guns?" while the other said: "Wanted: Law abiding New York gun owners looking for lower taxes and greater opportunity."[36] The adverts linked to a letter on Facebook in which Abbott stated such a move would enable citizens "to keep more of what you earn and use some of that extra money to buy more ammo."[36]

In February 2014, Abbott argued against a lawsuit brought by the National Rifle Association to allow more people access to concealed carry of firearms, as Abbott felt this would disrupt public safety.[37]

As Attorney General, Abbott (unsuccessfully) defended Texas' ban on sex toys.[38] He said Texas had a legitimate interest in "discouraging prurient interests in autonomous sex and the pursuit of sexual gratification unrelated to procreation."[38]

As Attorney General, Abbott fought to prevent courts from legalizing same-sex marriage.[39] In 2014, he argued in court that Texas should be allowed to prohibit same-sex marriage because LGBT individuals purportedly cannot procreate. He said that as "same-sex relationships do not naturally produce children, recognizing same-sex marriage does not further these goals to the same extent that recognizing opposite-sex marriage does."[38] He also argued that gay individuals can marry individuals of the opposite sex, thus there is no discrimination against LGBT individuals.[38] He suggested that same-sex marriage was a slippery slope where "any conduct that has been traditionally prohibited can become a constitutional right simply by redefining it at a higher level of abstraction."[38]

In the November 7, 2006, general election, Abbott was challenged by civil rights attorney David Van Os, who had been his Democratic opponent in the 1998 election for state Supreme Court. He won re-election to a second term by a margin of 60% to 37%.[40]

Abbott ran for a third term in 2010. He defeated the Democratic attorney Barbara Ann Radnofsky of Houston and the Libertarian Jon Roland once again. Radnofsky was also the unsuccessful Democratic candidate opposing U. S. senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in the 2006 general election. Abbott defeated Radnofsky by a margin of 64% to 34%.[41] He was the longest-serving Texas attorney general in Texas history.[42]

In July 2013, the Houston Chronicle alleged improper ties and oversight between many of Abbott's largest donors and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, of which he was a director.[43]

Abbott speaking at FreePac in Phoenix, 2012

On July 8, 2013, Governor Rick Perry announced that he would not seek a fourth full term.[44]

On July 14, 2013, speaking near the Alamo on the 29th anniversary of the accident that left him a paraplegic, Abbott formally announced his intention to run for Governor of Texas in the 2014 Texas gubernatorial election.[45] In the first six months of 2011, he raised more funds for his campaign than any other Texas politician, reaching $1.6 million. The next highest fundraiser among state officeholders was Texas comptroller Susan Combs with $611,700.[46]

In February 2014, while speaking on the dangers of corruption in law enforcement, Abbott compared the South Texas area to a Third World country[47] that "erodes the social fabric of our communities and destroys Texans' trust and confidence in government."[48] Abbott further said that he does not consider corruption "limited to one region of Texas [...] My plan is to add more resources to eliminate corruption so people can have confidence in their government."[48]

Abbott criticized Ted Nugent's "subhuman mongrel" comment directed at President Barack Obama by saying "This is not the kind of language I would use or endorse in any way. It's time to move beyond this, and I will continue to focus on the issues that matter to Texans."[49]

Abbott won the Republican primary on March 4, 2014, with 1,219,903, or 91.5% of the ballots cast. The remaining approximately 103,000 votes were divided among three minor candidates. He faced state senator Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, who polled 432,065 votes (79.1%) in her Democratic primary contest against a lone opponent.[50]

Abbott promised to "tie outcomes to funding" for pre-K programs if elected governor,[51] but he said he would not require government standardized testing for 4-year olds, as Davis has accused him of advancing.[52] When defending his education plan, Abbott cited Charles Murray: "Family background has the most decisive effect on student achievement, contributing to a large performance gap between children from economically disadvantaged families and those from middle class homes."[53] A spokesman for Abbott's campaign pointed out that the biggest difference in spending is that Davis has proposed universal pre-K education while Abbott wants to limit state funding to only programs that meet certain standards.[53] Davis' plan could reach 750 million in costs and Abbott has said that Davis' plan is a "budget buster" whereas Abbott's education plan would cost no more than 118 million.[53] Overall, Abbott said the reforms that he envisioned would "level the playing field for all students [and] target schools which don't have access to the best resources." He has called for increased accessibility to technology in the classroom and mathematics instruction for kindergarten pupils.[48]

Abbott received 1.4 million in campaign contributions from recipients of the Texas Enterprise Fund, some of whose members submitted the proper paperwork for grants.[54] Elliot Nagin of the Union of Concerned Scientists observed that Abbott was the recipient of large support from the fossil fuels industries, such as NuStar Energy, Koch Industries, Valero Energy, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips.[55] Abbott received the endorsement of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram,[56] Dallas Morning News,[57] the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal[58] and the Tyler Morning Telegraph.[59] Abbott, and his lieutenant governor running mate, Dan Patrick, gained an endorsement from the National Rifle Association and received their 'A' rating.[60]

Abbott defeated Davis by about 19 percentage points in the November general election.[61][62][63][64]

In January 2017, Abbott was reportedly raising funds for a 2018 re-election bid as governor; as of December 2016, he had $34.4 million on hand for his campaign, of which he raised $9 million during the second half of 2016.[65][66] Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick had been mentioned as a potential challenger for governor but confirmed he would run for a second term as lieutenant governor.[66] During the weekend of January 21, 2017, Abbott stated he was intending on running for re-election.[67] He confirmed this on March 28, 2017.[68]

Abbott formally announced his re-election campaign on July 14, 2017.[69] He chose the Amtrak depot at historic Sunset Station in San Antonio for his formal announcement of candidacy: "I've proven that I'm willing to take on the liberals, I'm willing to take on Washington, D.C., and I'm counting on you to have my back." Several protesters were led out of the hall before Abbott began speaking.[70] The formal announcement came four days before the beginning of a special legislative session that could split the Republican Party into factions favoring Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Patrick, on one hand, and House speaker Joe Straus, a Moderate Republican who opposes much of the Abbott-Patrick social conservative agenda.

In the November 6 general election, Abbott defeated Democratic nominee Lupe Valdez with about 56% of the vote.[71][72][73][74] Abbott received 42% of the Hispanic vote and 16% of African Americans.[75]

Abbott speaking at the 2016 World Travel and Tourism Council conference

Abbott was sworn in as the governor of Texas on January 20, 2015.[76][77]

Abbott declared February 2, 2015, as "Chris Kyle Day" in honor of the deceased United States Navy SEAL who was the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history (portrayed in the film American Sniper).[78][79][80] This came exactly two years after Kyle was shot and killed.[78] Abbott held his first meeting as governor with a foreign prime minister when he met with the Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny on March 15, 2015, to discuss trade and economic relations.[81]

During the 2015 legislative session, initiated by officials at the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the Texas Legislature placed a rider in the Texas budget to cut $150 million from its budget by ending payments and coverage for various developmental therapies for children on Medicaid. A lawsuit has been filed against the state on behalf of affected families and therapy providers, claiming it can cause irreparable damage to the affected children's development.[82] The litigation obtained a temporary injunction order on September 25, 2015, barring THHSC from implementing therapy rate cuts.[83]

The Trump Administration appointed several former appointees of Abbott to federal court positions, something some media outlets attributed to Abbott's influence on the administration.[84]

His 2016 book, Broken But Unbowed is a reflection on his personal story and views on politics.[85]

In October 2016, explosive packages were mailed to Abbott, President Obama, and the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration. The governor's package did not explode when he opened it as he opened the package incorrectly.[86]

On June 6, 2017, Abbott called for a special legislative session in order to pass several legislative priorities for Abbott,[87][88] something supported by Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick.[89] Abbott vetoed 50 bills in the regular 2017 session, the most vetoed in a session since 2007.[90][91]

In late November 2016, the State of Texas, at Abbott's request, approved new rules that require facilities that perform abortions either to bury or cremate the aborted, rather than dispose of the remains in a sanitary landfill.[92][93] The rules were intended to go into effect on December 19,[92] but on December 15 a federal judge blocked the rules from going into effect for at least one month after the Center for Reproductive Rights and other advocacy groups filed a lawsuit.[94] On January 27, 2017, a federal judge ruled against the law, but the State of Texas vowed to appeal the ruling.[95]

On June 6, 2017, Abbott signed a bill into law banning dismemberment and partial-birth abortions and requiring either the cremation or burial of the aborted.[96][97][98] The law was also blocked by a federal judge; the state said it would appeal.[99][100]

Governor Abbott with President Donald Trump during Hurricane Harvey emergency

On January 8, 2016, Abbott called for a national constitutional convention to address what he sees as abuses by justices of the United States Supreme Court in "abandoning the Constitution."[101] Abbott proposed passing nine new amendments to the Constitution, intended to limit the power of the federal government and expand states' rights.[102] Speaking to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Abbott said, "We the people have to take the lead to restore the rule of law in the United States."[103]

In 2016, Abbott spoke to the Texas Public Policy Foundation, calling for a Convention of States to amend the U.S. Constitution. In his speech, he released a plan that includes nine proposed amendments to "unravel the federal government's decades-long power grab "to impose fiscal restraints on the federal government and limit the federal government's power and jurisdiction."[104] Abbott elaborated on his proposal in a public seminar at the Hoover Institute on May 17, 2016.[105]

On June 13, 2015, Abbott signed the campus carry (SB 11) and the open carry (HB 910) bills into law.[106] The campus carry law came into effect on August 1, 2015 and allows the licensed carrying of a concealed handgun on public college campuses, with private colleges being able to opt out.[106][107] The open carry bill went into effect on January 1, 2016 and allows the licensed carrying of handguns openly in public areas and in private businesses that do not display a 30.07 sign. The 30.07 sign (referring to state penal code 30.07) states that a handgun may not be carried openly even by a licensed gun carrier. To do so openly is considered trespassing.[106][107][108] Texas is the 45th state to have open carry.[109]

On May 26, 2017, Abbott signed a bill into law lowering handgun carry license fees.[110]

Following the Sutherland Springs church shooting on November 5, 2017, during an interview with Fox News, Abbott urged historical reflection and the consideration that evil had been present in earlier "horrific events" during the Nazi era, the Middle Ages and biblical times.[111] Southwest Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Dayan Gross, said Abbott's comparison of the mass shooting "to the victims of the Holocaust" were both "deeply offensive" and "insensitive".[112][113]

After the Santa Fe High School shooting on May 18, 2018, Abbott said that he would consult across Texas in an attempt to prevent gun violence in schools[114] and a series of round-table discussions followed at the state capitol.[115] In a speech to a NRA convention in Dallas nearly a fortnight later, Abbott said: "The problem is not guns, it’s hearts without God".[116] In June 2019, he signed a bill allowing for more armed teachers with school districts being unrestricted as to the number they allow.[117] The creation of "threat assessment teams", passed into law by the bill, are intended to identify potentially violent students.[118] Although the state legislature passed measures for students services to deal with related mental health issues, so called red flag laws were defeated. "Right now it’s not necessary in the state of Texas", Abbott said.[117]

In comments to CNN after the 2019 El Paso shooting on August 3, 2019, Abbott said the state authorities would "prosecute it as capital murder" and "also as a hate crime".

Abbott on April 28, 2015, asked the State Guard to monitor the training exercise Jade Helm 15 amid Internet-fueled suspicions that the war simulation was really a hostile military takeover.[119][120][121][122] In 2018 former director of the CIA and NSA Michael Hayden said that the conspiracy theory had been propagated by Russian intelligence organizations and that Gov. Abbott's response convinced them of the power such a misinformation campaign could have in the United States.[123]

On June 11, 2015, Abbott signed the "Pastor Protection Act," which allows pastors to refuse to marry couples if they feel doing so violates their beliefs.[124]

On May 21, 2017, Abbott signed Senate Bill 24 into law, preventing state or local governments from subpoenaing pastors' sermons.[125][126] This bill was inspired by an anti-discrimination ordinance in Houston, where hundreds of sermons from five pastors were subpoenaed.[125]

On June 15, 2017, Abbott signed House Bill 3859 which allows faith-based groups working with the Texas child welfare system to deny services "under circumstances that conflict with the provider's sincerely held religious beliefs." Democrats and civil rights advocates said the adoption bill could allow such groups to discriminate against those who practice a different religion or who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, and LGBT rights groups said they would challenge the bill in court.[127][128] In response, California added Texas to a list of states in which it banned official government travel.[129]

Abbott speaks at the Texas gubernatorial debate at the LBJ Presidential Library in 2018

In November 2015, Abbott announced that Texas would block refuse Syrian refugees following the Paris terrorist attack that occurred earlier that month. In December 2015, Abbott ordered the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to file a lawsuit against the federal government and the International Rescue Committee to block refugee settlement, but the lawsuit was struck down by a federal district court.[130]

On February 1, 2017, Abbott blocked funding to Travis County, Texas, due to its recently implemented sanctuary city policy.[131][132] On May 7, 2017, Abbott signed Texas Senate Bill 4 into law, targeting sanctuary cities by charging county or city officials who refuse to work with federal officials and by allowing police officers to check the immigration status of those they detain if they choose.[133][134]

In January 2020, Abbott made Texas the first state to decline refugee resettlement under a new rule implemented by the Trump administration.[135] The move was condemned in a joint statement by all 16 Catholic bishops of Texas.[136]

Abbott believes that Earth's climate is changing, but he thinks that further study is necessary to determine human role in such changes.[137][138]

In early 2014, Abbott participated in strategy sessions held at the headquarters of the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., devising a legal strategy for dismantling climate change regulations.[139]

In 2016, Abbott supported the appointment of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), noting "He and I teamed up on many lawsuits against the EPA."[140]

Abbott was implicated in the purging of nearly 100,000 registered voters from voter rolls. The voters were purged under allegations that they were not American citizens, however the Texas secretary of state later publicly stated that tens of thousands of legitimate voters had been wrongly removed. Abbott claimed that he played no role in the voter purge, but emails released in June 2019 showed that Abbott pressed officials at the Department of Public Safety about the purge before it was implemented.[141]

Abbott condemned the Supreme Court ruling which found prohibitions on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional.[142] He said, "the Supreme Court has abandoned its role as an impartial judicial arbiter."[142] Shortly thereafter, Abbott filed a lawsuit to stop same-sex spouses of city employees to be covered by benefit policies.[143]

In a letter dated May 27, 2017, the CEOs of 14 large technology companies, including Facebook, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, urged Abbott not to pass discriminatory legislation.[144] At issue was the so-called "bathroom bill," which would require transgender people to use the bathroom of the sex listed on their birth certificates, not the one of their choice. The bill was revived by Abbott and supported by Republican lieutenant governor Dan Patrick.[145] In March 2018, Byron Cook, the chairman of the House State Affairs committee who blocked the bill, claimed that Abbott privately opposed the bill.[146] The bill was never signed; Abbott later stated that "it's not on my agenda," in a debate with Lupe Valdez, the Democratic candidate for governor in 2018.[147]

In 2017, Abbott signed legislation to allow taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to refuse same-sex families from adopting children.[148]

In June 2019, the city of Austin introduced an ordinance that repealed a 25-year-old ban on homeless people camping, lying, or sleeping in public.[149] Abbott, a vocal critic of the ordinance, came under fire after sharing multiple Twitter posts about various incidents allegedly instigated by homeless people, including a car accident, that were later proven false.[150] In early October 2019, Abbott sent a widely publicized letter to Austin Mayor Steve Adler criticizing the camping ban repeal and threatened to deploy state resources to combat homelessness.[150]

In November 2019, Abbott directed the State of Texas to open a temporary homeless encampment on a former vehicle storage yard owned by the Texas Department of Transportation, which was informally dubbed "Abbottville" by camp residents.[151]

In 2017, Abbott signed a bill into law enacting a statewide ban on texting while driving.[152]