In announcing his candidacy for governor, Attorney General Greg Abbott, speaking Sunday before hundreds of supporters in a plaza near the Alamo, described himself as a fighter for Texas with a spine of steel.
“I didn’t invent the phrase, 'Don’t mess with Texas,' but I’ve applied it more than anyone else,” said Abbott, referring to the 27 times he’s sued “an overreaching federal government.”
His announcement, at the height of a sweltering summer day, came six days after Gov. Rick Perry said that he would not seek reelection in 2014, and on the 29[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of the accident that left Abbott a paraplegic.
“On a steamy summer day like this, I went out for a jog and while I was jogging, a huge oak tree crashed down on my back” and “fractured my vertebrae and spinal column,” said Abbott. “I would never walk again.”
Noting that doctors inserted two permanent steel rods in his back, Abbott said, “Some politicians talk about having a steel spine. I actually have one. I will use my steel spine to fight for Texas values every single day.”
On Monday, he will launch a four-day campaign swing across Texas. He also will report raising another $4.7 million, on top of $18 million he reported in January. Abbott joins Tom Pauken, a former state party chairman and chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission, who intends to run a low-budget campaign of ideas challenging Abbott’s conservative bona fides, in the race for the GOP nomination.
State Sen. Wendy Davis D-Fort Worth, is considering joining the race as well but her decision is not expected until late summer or early fall.
“I didn’t invent the phrase, 'Don’t mess with Texas,' but I’ve applied it more than anyone else,” said Abbott, referring to the 27 times he’s sued “an overreaching federal government.”
His announcement, at the height of a sweltering summer day, came six days after Gov. Rick Perry said that he would not seek reelection in 2014, and on the 29[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of the accident that left Abbott a paraplegic.
“On a steamy summer day like this, I went out for a jog and while I was jogging, a huge oak tree crashed down on my back” and “fractured my vertebrae and spinal column,” said Abbott. “I would never walk again.”
Noting that doctors inserted two permanent steel rods in his back, Abbott said, “Some politicians talk about having a steel spine. I actually have one. I will use my steel spine to fight for Texas values every single day.”
On Monday, he will launch a four-day campaign swing across Texas. He also will report raising another $4.7 million, on top of $18 million he reported in January. Abbott joins Tom Pauken, a former state party chairman and chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission, who intends to run a low-budget campaign of ideas challenging Abbott’s conservative bona fides, in the race for the GOP nomination.
State Sen. Wendy Davis D-Fort Worth, is considering joining the race as well but her decision is not expected until late summer or early fall.