DALLAS — From his strategic partnership with President Donald Trump to his headline-grabbing border insurance policies, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is using a wave of Republican reputation that has raised his nationwide profile and will put a 2028 White Home marketing campaign inside attain if he desires it.
Few Republican governors have Abbott’s nationwide stature, and the Texas governor for the previous decade has basked in reward from Trump, who devoted a part of his Jan. 20 inaugural speeches to lauding Abbott because the “leader of the pack” among the many nation’s governors.
In any case, Abbott can have the selection to run for president or keep as governor within the nation’s most necessary and affluent Republican state. Both means, he can strongly affect GOP politics on a nationwide scale.
“That’s something that really came to mind when I saw Trump praise Abbott during that second inaugural speech,” stated Aaron Kall, a College of Michigan political scientist and creator of the ebook Debating the Donald.
“Abbott and Trump are similar. A lot of the governor’s actions are designed to solicit media attention on a larger, national stage. That suggests the potential for seeking something beyond being governor of Texas, and it will be a wide-open race in 2028,” Kall stated.
Abbott is, for now, centered on his future in Texas, his chief political advisor, Dave Carney, stated.
“The governor has been consistent that he has the second-best job in the country, and he loves what he’s doing and he’s going to run for reelection,” Carney stated. “That’s what he’s focused on, Texas. He told the president when he [Trump] was a candidate that he has no interest in going to Washington.”
Even so, hypothesis about Abbott’s future persists.
Abbott and Trump see eye-to-eye on immigration, border safety and decreasing authorities regulation, offering frequent floor for one of many governor’s latest goals — federal reimbursement for $11 billion spent on state border-security efforts through the Biden administration. Abbott has made a number of treks to Washington to rally help for the payout.
Buttering Texas’ toast is one profit to being cozy with Trump. From a political perspective, the Trump-Abbott partnership improves his standing with Trump loyalists and conservative Republicans outdoors of Texas.
Abbott briefly contemplated a presidential run through the 2024 cycle and made a number of appearances in battleground states earlier than the presidential marketing campaign season. However he by no means totally explored a candidacy and backed away from the prospect when Trump emerged because the clear GOP frontrunner.
Time period limits arrange an open race for the Oval Workplace in 2028.
“I wouldn’t predict if he’s going to run or not, but he’s definitely going to look at it, especially if we continue on the trajectory as a state that we are now,” stated Republican political advisor Vinny Minchillo, who labored on Trump’s presidential marketing campaign. “How could you not?”
Republican political advisor Brendan Steinhauser stated: “Greg Abbott’s stock is rising.”
“He’s obviously an ally of the president, and they have a mutual interest in working together on the border in particular,” Steinhauser stated. “It’s hard to think beyond that. There’s just different challenges that come with a Cabinet appointment or a VP slot or certainly running for president. Those are sometimes treacherous paths to follow politically.”
Anybody considering a run for president in 2028 must account for a crowded area that’s anticipated to incorporate Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and lots of others.
Abbott has introduced that he’s operating for reelection in 2026 and began this yr with $70 million in his marketing campaign account. There’s little standing in the best way of a fourth four-year time period.
Some political analysts say it’s frequent for Texas girls and boys to develop up desirous to be governor, then president. The final two sitting governors – Rick Perry and George W. Bush – have run for president.
“My focus is on Texas,” stated Abbott in July and once more in January.
Carney, Abbott’s political guru, conceded that In presidential politics, you by no means say by no means.
“You never know what will happen in ‘27, but I don’t really think he’s interested in it,” Carney stated.
Lisa Turner, a Democrat and state director of the Lone Star Venture, laughed on the notion of Abbott as a viable presidential candidate. He barely registered on straw polls by Republican teams earlier than the 2024 GOP primaries, and in contrast to Bush, Abbott lacks the crossover enchantment wanted to draw broad help, she stated.
“Maybe he has the ambition to do it, but I honestly don’t know who he would appeal to on a broad scale,” Turner stated. “If he ran for president, he would be embarrassed, but I’m all for him trying. If government can’t be good, it should at least be entertaining.”
Abbott has Trump’s again
A former Texas Supreme Courtroom justice and legal professional normal, Abbott has lengthy used the federal authorities as his political foil.
As legal professional normal, he sued President Barack Obama’s administration dozens of instances, together with a profitable problem to a 2014 order providing deportation safety to undocumented dad and mom of kids who had been U.S. residents or authorized residents.
Abbott’s feud with the federal authorities subsided throughout Trump’s first time period however was renewed when President Joe Biden took workplace in 2021, the yr the governor launched Operation Lone Star to focus state sources on border safety.
Abbott wasn’t achieved.
Whereas in search of reelection to a 3rd time period, Abbott in 2022 started busing migrants from the southern border to cities managed by Democrats, together with New York, Chicago, Washington and Philadelphia. The transfer, Abbott stated, was designed to spotlight Biden’s failure to safe the border.
Because the cities struggled to accommodate waves of migrants, immigration grew to become a nationwide subject — one which helped catapult Trump to the White Home.
Abbott nonetheless has Trump’s again on border safety.
Underneath the governor’s course, Texas has constructed almost 60 miles of border wall, with one other 18 miles underway. He has provided Trump billions of {dollars} in state property to help Trump’s promise of mass deportations, together with state-owned land to deal with detention services, hundreds of jail cells to carry migrants and navy bases to deal with federal authorities.
An appreciative Trump gave the Texas governor huge reward at one in all his January inauguration occasions, calling him a “great man, great leader” and the “leader of the pack” amongst governors.
“He was a very popular governor, but now he’s like an unbeatable governor, because of your border policies,” Trump stated, as Abbott grinned within the crowd. “He’s doing a great job. He’s doing a phenomenal job, but now you’re going to have a partner that’s going to work with you.”
Trump’s reward might assist set the desk for a presidential bid.
“If the governor does have higher ambitions, his direct experience with immigration and economic issues can be very helpful to him personally in a Republican primary,” Kall stated. “Those are the same issues that helped Trump win in 2024.”
“It’s Trump’s party,” stated Dallas-based conservative radio speak host Mark Davis. “To the degree that Gov. Abbott is on board for that and a valuable ally in that, all it does is help Abbott. If he continues on a track of being a really valuable ally, a really valuable partner in a Republican era defined by Trump, Abbott gets even stronger still.”
‘Almost like two heads of state’
Abbott’s largest political asset — the financial success of Texas — might increase a run for president, in addition to present a motive to reject a White Home bid.
“We’re better off because of what Abbott and the Texas Legislature has done,” stated former Texas Republican Get together Chairman Chad Wilbanks. “Taking that message and those policies to the national level would bode well for Gov. Abbott, depending on what he wants to do in the future.”
If Abbott wins reelection in 2026, he’ll have a shot at changing into the state’s longest serving governor. Perry served 14 years.
Main Texas could possibly be extra nice than main the nation.
“Texas has a great economy and is the most important red state,” stated Republican advisor and lobbyist Invoice Miller. “It’s like being president of a small or medium-sized country, and he’s controlling all of it.”
Minchillo agreed.
“It’s not only that he’s well-positioned nationally, but how Texas is positioned nationally,” Minchillo stated. “He wants his legacy to be that Texas has overtaken California as the place to be, as the state where everything happens.”
“There’s the old saying that Texas is its own country,” Minchillo stated. “Abbott’s got a unique relationship with Trump. Where Trump needs his help, Abbott can offer it. The relationship is almost like two heads of state, more than a president and a governor.”
No different job, nonetheless, is extra highly effective than the American president.
After praising Abbott and the inauguration occasion, Trump made a quip reminding everybody that whereas Abbott is an enormous shot in Texas, he’s not on the president’s stage.
“We couldn’t get you up in the front row?” Trump joked.
