Name: Boosted by Texas House wins, Abbott humors 2024 presidential speculation
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Boosted by Texas House wins, Abbott humors 2024 presidential speculation

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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateFour months ago, Gov. Greg Abbott was facing the toughest stretch of his political career. Coronavirus infections were surging across Texas, factions of his political party were openly revolting against his response, and for the first time since taking office, it seemed as though the state’s most popular Republican was suddenly not so popular.But after helping the GOP dominate this month in a slew of contentious state House races, the governor appears to have emerged unscathed, with whispers from fellow Republicans about a run for higher office.“I started getting some calls this weekend from friends outside of the state saying, ‘Hey, do you think your governor might be looking at the 2024 race?’” said Ray Sullivan, a Republican strategist who has worked on four presidential campaigns. “So I can tell you, from my experience, that national inquiry has already started.”Abbott has not even officially launched his re-election campaign for 2022, but already there is speculation about whether he could mount an effective presidential bid in four years — rumblings that the governor seems happy to encourage.Asked in a Wednesday in Dallas about a potential run, he said, “The first step is to win re-election,” and after that, “we’ll see what happens.”SECOND WAVE:More Politics NewsThe attention may come as no shock in a state that has a rich tradition of sending its Republican prodigies on to the national spotlight, including former Govs. George W. Bush and Rick Perry. But it is also a sign that the person who may have fared best in the 2020 election was not on the ballot.“Nov. 3 was a major victory for Gov. Abbott,” said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University. With the Texas GOP’s House majority on the line after the bruising 2018 midterms, the governor’s campaign operation played a key role in recruiting conservative candidates and spearheading an offensive this fall that vilified Democrats as anti-law enforcement.Abbott also over the summer wave of coronavirus infections, even as confirmed cases began to spike in West and North Texas. In the final weeks of the campaign cycle, he hardly mentioned the pandemic at all.“I think, at least in the Legislature, everyone is fully aware that if Gov. Abbott was not as active in state House races, Democratic success would have been higher,” Jones said. “Whether they would have flipped the House or not remains unclear, but they would have come much, much closer.”TEXAS TAKE:That kind of influence immediately boosts Abbott’s sway heading into the 2021 legislative session, when Republicans will have to reckon with a massive budget shortfall and disagreements about how to aid cities and counties slammed by the pandemic. It also leaves him on solid footing to make a go at becoming only the second Texas governor re-elected to a third term.Abbott’s chief political strategist, David Carney, said there have been “zero conversations” about running for higher office or about the impact of this month’s elections “beyond what it means for having as best a (legislative) session we can have, and for re-election.”“I can’t imagine him even looking at Washington as a positive thing,” Carney added. “You know, like, how would you get anything done? How would you be able to move an agenda to accomplish anything?”Though Republicans had a good showing this year, Renee Cross, senior director at the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, warned that demographic trends are still moving against them, even if more slowly than Democrats had expected. Republicans were unable to win back nearly any of the seats they lost in 2018, and Democratic turnout continued to improve in suburban districts and along Interstate 35, .“I would say, ‘Be happy about the result, but don’t become complacent,’” Cross said. “I think there’s still room for the Democrats to do better in the governor’s race.”Meanwhile, Abbott is facing increasing pressure from local officials to address the new surge in infections, which is decimating El Paso and beginning to seep back into Houston and San Antonio. The governor has declined to impose new restrictions that would slow the spread, and Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton, recently sued to block El Paso officials from enforcing a temporary lockdown.But if Republicans are concerned, they’re not showing it. Party officials were ecstatic after the elections, and many don’t expect national Democrats to invest as heavily in Texas in the next cycle, given the results this year and that the once-in-a-decade redistricting process — a key incentive for Democrats to flip the House — will have ended by then.It’s also unclear whom Democrats could put forth to seriously challenge Abbott’s and other statewide seats. Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of El Paso, who has been rumored to be considering a run for governor, became a frequent target this election cycle, most pointedly from Abbott himself.O’Rourke lost a close race against Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, helping Democrats pick up several Texas House seats in the process, but has been vilified by conservatives for his more liberal views on gun control and other issues.Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said Abbott has a long way to go before he could consider a presidential bid. Even then, the field of Republican candidates is likely to be crowded, with Cruz potentially reviving his upstart 2016 campaign and a possibility that President Donald Trump could run again.Abbott’s advisers should be telling him to “stay governor of Texas until the day you die,” Jillson said. “It’s a job you love, it’s a job you can handle, there’s no trouble on the horizon. Just stay there.”

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateFour months ago, Gov. Greg Abbott was facing the toughest stretch of his political career. Coronavirus infections were surging across Texas, factions of his political party were openly revolting against his response, and for the first time since taking office, it seemed as though the state’s most popular Republican was suddenly not so popular.But after helping the GOP dominate this month in a slew of contentious state House races, the governor appears to have emerged unscathed, with whispers from fellow Republicans about a run for...

Boosted by Texas House wins, Abbott humors 2024 presidential speculation

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