Texas Gov. Greg Abbott compares choice between GOP, Dems to 'common sense and crazy'
DALLAS — Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott delivered a fiery speech at the Dallas GOP midterm convention Thursday, making the case that the November's election is a clear choice between “common sense" and "crazy.”
Speaking on the convention's second and final night at the American Airlines Center, Abbott, who is running for a fourth term, kicked off his address by showing love to his fellow Texans in the crowd.
"I love everybody in this room. But I have a very special affinity for my fellow Texans," he said, as he faces state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Texas, in what polling shows to be a tightly contested gubernatorial race.
Abbott credited President Donald Trump with unmatched border security efforts and compared the border situation today to how it was under the Biden administration. The 68-year-old governor also took some credit of his own for leading efforts to secure the nation’s borders.
“When Joe Biden was president, Texas had to step into the breach, and now Texas has the toughest laws on immigration of anybody in any state in the United States of America," he said.
"We banned sanctuary cities. We’re the only state to build our own border wall. And we made it a state crime to cross the border illegally into Texas."
In an apparent shot at his gubernatorial opponent, Hinojosa, Abbott noted that Democratic candidates in Texas opposed those measures.
“All the Democrats running statewide in the state of Texas, they had a chance to vote on those policies, and they voted against those policies," he said. "They voted against common sense."
Abbott also highlighted laws blocking foreign adversaries from purchasing Texas land and his executive order last November designating the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as terrorist organizations.
“The Democrats on the ballot have taken a vote where they think that it’s just fine that our foreign adversaries can come into Texas and buy our land. That’s crazy, and it’s not going to happen because I signed laws that ban China, Russia, and Iran from buying land in the state of Texas,” he said.
His pledge to “fully ban sharia law in Texas” drew thunderous applause from nearly 15,000 attendees, along with his remarks on the economy and energy. Abbott accused Democrats of supporting higher taxes and policies that would harm oil and gas workers, an apparently veiled reference to comments from state Rep. James Talarico, D-Texas, praising an anti-oil protest group in June 2024.
“Let me tell you, let me tell you something about these Democrats. The Democrats running on the ticket in Texas … support Green New Deal policies that would send hundreds of thousands of our oil and gas workers to the unemployment line,” he said. “But none of that’s going to happen because I signed laws that made it unconstitutional to have an income tax in the state of Texas. Laws that cut your property taxes and laws that support our oil and gas workers, keeping Texas number one in America for oil and gas production.”
He closed his nearly 11-minute address by linking Democrats to “transgender sex changes” for children and support for Texas HB 229, which Abbott said protects “parents who supposedly misgender their own children in their own home.”
“But that’s not happening because I put a stop to the craziness by signing laws that protect parents’ rights in the state of Texas," he said.
He closed by calling the upcoming election in November “a choice between common sense and crazy.”
“Common sense always wins,” he added. “It will win this year too.”
A survey of polls accessed Friday shows Abbott with a slight lead over Hinojosa, even as Democrats have grown increasingly confident of a tighter race in the run-up to November.
