July 14, 2017
SAN ANTONIO – Greg Abbott is running for governor again.
The governor formally launched his re-election campaign to a crowd of sign-waving supporters and friends Friday, not far from where he launched his first bid for the state’s highest office four years ago.
“To keep Texas the best very state in the United States, I am running for reelection as governor of the great state of Texas,” Abbott said to cheers.
Abbott has more than $30 million in campaign funds on hand and currently faces no serious Democratic or primary challengers. In the 2014 gubernatorial race, Abbott beat Democrat Wendy Davis by 20 percentage points. He has previously said he intends to run for re-election. Friday’s speech followed a series of teasers from Abbott on social media about the re-election campaign.
During his speech, Abbott both reviewed previous legislative achievements and set out a vision for the state’s future, saying that he wanted to increase pay for teachers, fight human trafficking in Texas, and reform the property tax system.
“Believe it or not there are some lawmakers in Austin who actually want to raise your taxes,” Abbott said. “I am running for governor to make sure that never happens.”
Abbott’s announcement comes just days before the beginning of a special session of the Texas Legislature, the state’s first since Abbott became governor. Lawmakers will return to Austin to tackle an ambitious and wide-ranging agenda from Abbott that includes property taxes, school finance reform and a “bathroom bill” that seeks to restrict which bathrooms transgender Texans can use.
This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2017/07/14/gov-greg-abbott-announce-re-election/.
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