In 2014, the Republican lawyer normal of Texas, Greg Abbott, confronted Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis in a gubernatorial contest that drew worldwide consideration.
Davis turned a mega-celebrity — guide contract, journal covers, talking tour — after seizing the Senate ground in Austin and filibustering for practically 15 hours in help of abortion rights. Tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} flooded her marketing campaign.
Nonetheless, Abbott clobbered Davis in one of many largest Texas landslides in years, extending an extended document of futility by hapless Democrats. (Their final statewide win got here in 1994, again when Amazon was based and NBC aired the pilot episode of “Buddies.”)
Abortion wasn’t the central focus of the race many had anticipated. Points like immigration and healthcare and a backlash to the Obama administration had been larger elements in Abbott’s win. At the moment, he had but to signal into legislation the nation’s most stringent antiabortion invoice.
Extra on that in a second.
In a guide revealed in the course of the marketing campaign, Davis revealed she had terminated two pregnancies, together with one on account of an excessive fetal abnormality. Abbott restated his long-standing place on abortion, opposing the process in all cases, save when the lifetime of a mom was endangered.
Then, lower than two weeks earlier than election day, the Los Angeles Instances revealed an article on the governor’s race that included Abbott’s stance on abortion. His marketing campaign instantly requested for a correction, saying Abbott had shifted his view and “now helps a Texas legislation that enables abortions to happen as much as 20 weeks of being pregnant for any purpose.”
It’s a small footnote to a long-past marketing campaign. But it surely’s a curious one, on condition that Abbott earlier this yr signed the invoice successfully banning abortion in Texas by outlawing it after about six weeks of being pregnant. That’s earlier than many ladies even know they’re pregnant.
There are not any exceptions for circumstances involving incest or rape, although Abbott provided his assurance the state would “work tirelessly to be sure that we remove all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them.”
As if it had been that straightforward.
So what occurred? Why did Abbott change his place on abortion within the waning days of the 2014 race, publicly adopting a much more permissive stance, then signal into legislation the nation’s tightest restrictions, together with a bounty system that enables non-public residents to implement the near-total ban?
Abbott’s press store didn’t reply to requests for remark. So right here’s a guess: Operating for a 3rd time period in 2022, the governor is going through Republican challengers searching for to outflank him within the March 1 main by operating to Abbott’s proper.
(A number of Democrats are additionally bidding for governor, together with the pale phenom Beto O’Rourke, however they face very lengthy odds of prevailing in November.)
Abbott’s most pugnacious opponent, former state Sen. Don Huffines, is utilizing a small a part of his private fortune to model the governor as a average — by Texas GOP requirements that’s Karl Marx territory — and promote himself as “an precise Republican.”
Abbott is politically conservative. There’s no query about that. However with Huffines dogging him, the governor has moved even additional to the proper, reversing his place on COVID-19 mandates and prohibiting colleges, companies and native governments from imposing such necessities. He has additionally, amongst different strikes, echoed Huffines’ name for Texas to construct its personal wall alongside the border with Mexico.
Assuming he wins reelection, the 64-year-old Abbott is being talked about as a potential presidential candidate in 2024, following within the steps of his two most up-to-date Republican predecessors, George W. Bush and Rick Perry. He even has among the similar political advisors who labored for Perry.
Abbott has a popularity in Austin for twisting like a climate vane, relying on the prevailing Republican winds. Given his nationwide ambitions, his flip-flops are value noting.
If he’s that malleable on a problem as deeply felt as abortion, what does it say about Abbott’s core beliefs and what he stands for? Aside from successful workplace, that’s.
