Feb. 15, 2021
Named “Best Governor in the Nation” in 2020, Governor Greg Abbott continues to build on his record as a strong conservative leader who fights to preserve Texas values and ensure the Lone Star State remains the best place to raise a family, build a business, and create greater opportunity for all.
Texas works when Texans work:
Under Governor Abbott’s careful stewardship of the ninth-largest economy in the world, the Lone Star State added more than 1 million new jobs during the first five years of his administration and led the nation in job creation for 2019.
With the Governor’s unwavering commitment to expanding opportunity for all hardworking Texans, the Lone Star State is the top state for attracting job-creating capital investments and is among the top states for jobs created by African American, Hispanic, women, and veteran business owners.
Addressing the state’s most pressing issues:
As the nation and the world continue to battle the global pandemic, Governor Abbott is working to build a healthier, safer, freer, and more prosperous future for all Texans.
In the 87th Legislative Session, the Governor’s focus is on ensuring Texans have access to high-quality healthcare, improving public safety, getting Texans back to work, and unleashing the state’s robust, resilient economy.
Landmark legislation passed in the previous session included the Governor’s priorities that Texans demanded: reining in skyrocketing property taxes; investing more in our classrooms and teachers; keeping our schools safe; combatting human trafficking; and improving disaster preparedness and response. Other notable successes included protecting free speech on campus, ensuring medical care for babies born alive after attempted abortions, banning red light cameras, and more.
These build on Governor Abbott’s prior legislative successes making Texas even freer, stronger, safer, and smarter: investing in critical border security; reforming the child protective system; investing more in early and higher education; cutting billions in taxes to stimulate job growth; reining in regulatory regimes that strangle innovation; improving Texas roads; and expanding protection of Texans’ constitutional rights.
Defined by perseverance:
Before his election in 2014 as the 48th Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott was the 50th and longest-serving Attorney General of Texas, earning a national reputation for defending religious liberty and protecting Texas communities and children. He also previously served as a Justice on the Texas Supreme Court and as a State District Judge in Harris County.
A native Texan and avid sportsman and hunter, Governor Abbott was born in Wichita Falls and raised in Duncanville. After graduating from The University of Texas at Austin, he earned a law degree from Vanderbilt University Law School.
Shortly after graduating from law school, he was partially paralyzed by a falling tree while jogging. From his faith and family, he gained strength, recognizing “our lives are not defined by our challenges, but by how we respond to them.”
Governor Abbott and his wife, Cecilia, a former teacher and principal, and the first Hispanic First Lady of Texas, were married in 1981. Their daughter, Audrey, is a recent college graduate.