As Texans prepare to elect their next governor, Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke have similar campaign messages: The other guy would be terrible for Texas.
The closing arguments Abbott and O’Rourke brought to North Texas in the final week of the campaign are the same ones they’ve offered throughout the $200 million governor’s race, the most expensive in Texas history: fear and dread mixed with some hope and aspiration.
Abbott, the Republican incumbent, says he’ll continue a conservative philosophy that will keep Texas, well, Texas. He says O’Rourke, his Democratic Party challenger, is too liberal and would usher in an era of socialism and wreck the state’s economic success.
The former El Paso congressman says Texas’ economy is thriving in spite of Abbott, who’s failed the state by allowing property taxes to soar, not fortifying the state’s power grid, doing nothing to curb mass shootings, and signing an abortion ban without exceptions for victims of rape and incest.
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The next governor will set the agenda for two legislative sessions and serve as the executive for numerous agencies that operate under the $248 billion two-year budget passed last year.
A Democrat hasn’t won a statewide race since 1994, and the last to win a governor’s race was Ann Richards in 1990. If Abbott wins, Republicans will continue their statewide dominance. If O’Rourke pulls off a stunner and the Legislature remains under GOP control as expected, state government will be divided.
North Texas connection
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Whatever the scenario, the direction of Texas is in the hands of voters, and North Texas will play a pivotal role. To have a chance, O’Rourke needs high turnout in Democratic strongholds like Dallas County and to build on gains in Tarrant County in 2018 and 2020. Abbott needs to keep GOP voters in the fold in traditionally Republican suburban Collin and Denton counties.
To read the full story, visit our partners at the Dallas Morning News.
