Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for reelection, easing the Republican’s path to a third term and keeping his options for a 2024 White House bid alive.
Support for Trump among grassroots Republicans remains sky high, and his decision to back Abbott should keep at bay any challengers the second-term governor might face in the GOP primary in 2022. Renomination in hand, and on the ballot in a midterm election with President Joe Biden in the White House, Abbott should be in a position to win another four years at the helm in Austin.
If successful, Abbott’s next step would be to decide whether to run for president. The field is expected to be especially crowded if Trump opts against a third White House campaign.
“His operation since 2014 has looked like a presidential campaign, very professionally run. It never slowed down,” said Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican strategist in Texas. However, Steinhauser added, recent speculation in GOP circles around the state is that Abbott “won’t be running after all.” He said that it’s possible the speculation was “a consultant-driven thing” to begin with, versus a political future the governor was actively pursuing.
An Abbott spokesman declined to comment for this story.
In endorsing Abbott, Trump said that “no governor has done more to secure the Border and keep our communities safe,” adding that he is “all in on election integrity.” In other words, Abbott hit the sweet spot of issues the former president cares about most. That’s not insignificant. Trump is vowing to oust Republican governors in primaries next year over policy disputes, including Georgia’s Brian Kemp and Ohio’s Mike DeWine.
In addition to border security, Trump is particularly animated by how certain governors handled the 2020 election and its aftermath and whether they supported changes to election laws in their states that he deems sufficient. Abbott is avoiding Trump’s wrath by moving aggressively on those issues.
After Democrats in the Texas Legislature walked out of the chamber, preventing the quorum Republicans needed to call up and vote on reforms to state election law, Abbott said he would force the issue in a special legislative session. He also declared an emergency along the Mexican border in response to Biden relaxing Trump-era immigration restrictions. Those actions should inoculate Abbott from a Trump-led grassroots revolt ahead of Texas’s primary next March.
“He is solely focused on 2022,” said a Republican operative in Austin, the state capital.
Abbott would not be the first Texas governor to run for president. George W. Bush used the office as a springboard to the White House in 2002. Former Gov. Rick Perry ran twice, in 2012 and 2016. With the state’s cache of electoral votes and access to wealthy GOP donors, it is almost impossible for a Texas governor to escape questions about running for president.
Abbott’s desire to follow in the footsteps of his two most recent predecessors is a subject of much debate.
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Some Republican operatives with deep ties in Texas have insisted for the last few years that Abbott was intent on running and building his 2022 reelection team with an eye toward transitioning the operation into a 2024 presidential campaign. Other Republicans, including those positioned to know the governor’s thoughts on the matter, claim he has never discussed the matter — in political planning sessions or otherwise.
“He would bring an immense set of life experiences, professional accomplishments, and deep political understanding that is unique,” a Republican supporter said. “But I really don’t think he is focused or even thinking about it.”
