Greg Abbott’s been campaigning actively for Texas governor for about three days and already he’s killin’ me.
The state attorney general went to El Paso the other day to proclaim that as governor, he won’t neglect that region of the state.
http://www.texastribune.org/2013/07/18/abbott-promises-remember-el-paso-fight-security/
Well, why should he? El Paso is a substantial city of about 700,000 residents. It sits at the far western tip of the state. It’s populated by a lot of Democrats. Did I mention that Abbott is running as a Republican for governor? My guess is that won’t win a majority of the votes cast within the city, or perhaps even with the boundaries of El Paso County.
It sure is nice of him, though, to tell ’em way out yonder he won’t forget about them.
You know, though, some of in this region of the state think sometimes that Austin takes us for granted.Ā The folks who run the state from AustinĀ forget about the Panhandle.
I remember when a one-time freshman lawmaker — Republican David Swinford — only half-jokingly suggested that the Panhandle break itself off from the rest of the state. I asked Swinford about that once many years after he took office as a state representative in 1991 and he admitted to thinking that was a good idea. His beef? He said the state didn’t always consider the Panhandle’s needs when making policy or enacting laws.
Abbott, or whoever wins the GOP nomination for governor in 2014, is likely to do very well in this part of the state.
So my advice to the eventual gubernatorial nominee is this: Don’t takeĀ the Texas Panhandle for granted as you campaign for the governor’s office — or if you actually win theĀ general election contestĀ a year from this November.