SB: Abbott campaigns in rural Texas to pressure House members on vouchers but refused to campaign in those areas to help incumbents in their primaries
Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect the fact that with only one exception, GOP legislators are conspicuously absent from Abbott's voucher events in rural Texas - SB CORSICANA – First, let’s briefly recap where we are in this session. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is out with a dental issue and “a personal matter” until later this week. He’s laid out 30 priorities. Speaker Dade Phelan , in good health and on the job, has so far unveiled seven priorities with bipartisan appeal. But where is Gov. Greg Abbott ? For seven weeks, Abbott was largely missing in action. Then, he gave his State of the State Address in a previously undisclosed location. Now, still avoiding the Texas Capitol , Abbott has taken his voucher show on the road, trying to convince Republican voters that his policy prescription of “education savings accounts” is the right major change for school finance. One glaring problem with that strategy, of course, is that the people he needs to convince are in Austin, not Corsicana or Conroe . At least it gives Abbott something to do while he honors his tradition of avoiding direct interactions with legislators.
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Editor's note: This article has been updated to reflect the fact that with only one exception, GOP legislators are conspicuously absent from Abbott's voucher events in rural Texas - SB
CORSICANA – First, let’s briefly recap where we are in this session.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick
is out with a dental issue and “a personal matter” until later this week. He’s laid out 30 priorities. Speaker Dade Phelan , in good health and on the job, has so far unveiled seven priorities with bipartisan appeal.
But where is Gov. Greg Abbott ?
For seven weeks, Abbott was largely missing in action.
Then, he gave his State of the State Address in a previously undisclosed location. Now, still avoiding the Texas Capitol , Abbott has taken his voucher show on the road, trying to convince Republican voters that his policy prescription of “education savings accounts” is the right major change for school finance.
One glaring problem with that strategy, of course, is that the people he needs to convince are in Austin, not Corsicana or Conroe .
At least it gives Abbott something to do while he honors his tradition of avoiding direct interactions with legislators.
Perhaps the time to campaign for school vouchers would have been during the general election, when the issue was rarely addressed by Abbott or Patrick except to give assurances to rural Republicans that their school districts would not be financially harmed by such a plan.
Those promises from Abbott continued in a church here in Navarro County, where a woman shouted “Amen!” when the governor said Texas public schools would continue be “fully funded” under his voucher proposal. The complexities of school finance aside, the crowd gathered at the Park Meadows Church and Academy barely reacted to “education savings accounts.” But they enthusiastically applauded when Abbott said schools are for “education not indoctrination.”
Fighting the “woke agenda” got the crowd riled up. Vouchers? Kinda boring. During the event Rep. Cody Harris , R-Palestine, also credited Abbott for fighting the “woke” liberals in schools but didn’t mention vouchers. With Rep. Harris sitting right there behind him, Abbott told the crowd they needed to contact their legislator and tell him to support the plan. That seemed a bit uncomfortable. But at least the snacks from Collin Street Bakery were good. Politics aside, the cherry icebox cookies are the bomb.
By the way, no legislator appeared with Abbott at his similar event in Conroe and no legislator is scheduled to join him in Amarillo this week, either. Back in Austin some GOP legislators who served when Abbott was in his first term as governor in 2015 have been grumbling about the fact that he’s now touring districts to twist arms on vouchers but he never lifted a finger to help them in subsequent primaries when they had supported his education agenda.
For those who may not remember: When Abbott pushed for expansion of quality prekindergarten programs in ‘15, it was assailed by some conservative activists as “godless socialism.” Republican members were fearful of supporting it, but Abbott assured members during a House Republican Caucus meeting that if they faced primary challenges, he would have their backs.
The GOP House members did their part, voting for Abbott’s bill. Abbott not only reneged on his promise to campaign for them, but members said he would not even authorize the use of his picture on mail pieces for Republican incumbents who drew primary challenges in the next cycle.
“So, he’ll campaign in our districts for vouchers, but not for us when we supported his deal?” said one veteran Republican. “No thank you.”
Since the 2016 cycle, Abbott has only become more punitive toward Republican members and their staffers. In 2018, he campaigned against then-Rep. Sarah Davis , R-West University Place, and then-Rep. Lyle Larson , R-San Antonio. Both had committed the cardinal sin of questioning Abbott’s expanded use of executive authority. They both secured their GOP nominations that year anyway.
There is rarely any help from Abbott for GOP legislators. Instead, it is mostly punishment. The ultimate slap in the face came in 2021. Over the objections of Speaker Phelan, Abbott turned GOP staffers into collateral damage when he vetoed their paychecks as retribution for a Democratic quorum break over voting rights.
So, if Abbott has a chance of passing school vouchers, the path runs through the few rural GOP districts where members have neither muscle memory for the issue nor any experience with how this governor has treated the Legislature in the past.