Greg Abbott

Greg Abbott
Born	Gregory Wayne Abbott 13 11, 1957
Birthplace	Wichita Falls, Texas, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Politician, attorney, jurist
Title	Governor of Texas
Known for	48th Governor of Texas, 50th Attorney General of Texas
Education	University of Texas at Austin (BBA) Vanderbilt University (JD)
Children	1
Awards	Longest-serving Texas Attorney General
Website	[https://gov.texas.gov Official site]

Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since January 20, 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Abbott has built one of the longest careers in modern Texas politics, having previously served as the 50th Attorney General of Texas from 2002 to 2015 and as a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from 1996 to 2001. Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, and raised in the state, Abbott was paralyzed from the waist down in 1984 when a tree fell on him while he was jogging, confining him permanently to a wheelchair. He became the first Texas governor and only the third governor of a U.S. state to use a wheelchair, following Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York and George Wallace of Alabama. As of 2025, Abbott is the longest-serving incumbent governor in the United States. Throughout his career, Abbott has pursued a conservative agenda centered on border security, gun rights, opposition to abortion, and resistance to federal regulatory overreach.

Early Life

Gregory Wayne Abbott was born on November 13, 1957, in Wichita Falls, Texas. He was raised in Texas and has spoken publicly about his East Texas roots, including time spent growing up in Longview.

Abbott's life changed dramatically on July 14, 1984, when, at the age of 26, he was jogging through a neighborhood in Houston following a thunderstorm. A large oak tree snapped and fell on him, crushing his spine and leaving him permanently paralyzed from the waist down. The accident resulted in shattered vertebrae and left Abbott confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He underwent extensive surgeries and rehabilitation in the aftermath of the injury. Abbott later received a legal settlement from the homeowner whose tree fell on him and from a tree care company, which provided him with periodic payments. The incident and his subsequent recovery have been a defining element of his public biography, and Abbott has frequently referenced the experience as formative in shaping his determination and resilience.

Despite the severity of his injuries, Abbott continued to pursue a career in law and public service. His experience with the legal system following the accident, including the tort litigation that resulted in his settlement, would later become a point of political discussion, particularly as Abbott, as attorney general and governor, advocated for tort reform measures that critics argued would limit the kind of legal recourse he himself had used.

Education

Abbott attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He subsequently enrolled at Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville, Tennessee, where he earned his Juris Doctor degree. After completing his legal education, Abbott returned to Texas to begin his career in law, entering private practice in Houston.

Career

Private Legal Practice

Following his graduation from Vanderbilt University Law School, Abbott entered private legal practice in Houston. He worked for the law firm Butler and Binion, LLP between 1984 and 1992. During this period, he also dealt with the personal and legal consequences of his 1984 accident. After his initial tenure on the Supreme Court of Texas concluded, Abbott briefly returned to private practice in 2001, working for Bracewell & Giuliani LLC before running for attorney general.

State District Judge

In 1993, Abbott transitioned from private practice to the judiciary. He was appointed as a state trial judge in the 129th District Court in Harris County, Houston, where he served for approximately three years. His time as a trial judge provided Abbott with experience in Texas's state court system and helped establish his credentials as a jurist.

Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas

In 1995, Governor George W. Bush appointed Abbott to the Supreme Court of Texas, where he took office on January 2, 1996, succeeding Justice Jack Hightower. Abbott subsequently won election to a full term on the court in 1998, receiving approximately 60 percent of the vote. He served on the Supreme Court until 2001. During his tenure, Abbott participated in rulings across a range of civil matters that came before the state's highest court for civil cases.

Abbott initially resigned from the Supreme Court with the intention of running for lieutenant governor of Texas, but he ultimately shifted his candidacy to the office of attorney general. His successor on the Supreme Court was Xavier Rodriguez.

Attorney General of Texas (2002–2015)

Abbott was elected Attorney General of Texas in 2002, winning with 57 percent of the vote. He succeeded John Cornyn, who left the office to run successfully for the United States Senate. Abbott was reelected in 2006 with approximately 60 percent of the vote and again in 2010 with approximately 64 percent, each time increasing his margin of victory. Serving from December 2, 2002, to January 5, 2015, Abbott became the longest-serving attorney general in Texas history, with 12 years in the office. He was the third Republican to hold the position since the Reconstruction era.

Litigation Before the U.S. Supreme Court

One of Abbott's most prominent legal actions as attorney general was his involvement in the 2005 United States Supreme Court case Van Orden v. Perry. In this case, Abbott successfully argued before the Court that a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas State Capitol was constitutional and did not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Court ruled 5–4 in favor of Texas, holding that the monument's placement had a legitimate secular purpose given its historical context.

Abbott also defended Texas's ban on same-sex marriage in federal court, though this effort ultimately proved unsuccessful as the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015 that same-sex marriage bans were unconstitutional.

Lawsuits Against the Obama Administration

As attorney general, Abbott became nationally known for filing numerous lawsuits against the administration of President Barack Obama. He was reported to have described his job as consisting of going "into the office," suing "the federal government," and then going "home." By 2017, the state of Texas under Abbott's tenure and that of his successor Ken Paxton had filed dozens of lawsuits against the federal government.

The lawsuits covered a broad range of policy areas. Abbott sought to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, challenged the Obama administration's environmental regulations, and opposed federal immigration policies. His aggressive posture toward the federal government helped raise his national profile within the Republican Party and among conservative legal circles. Abbott's approach was later compared to that of Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general who similarly filed numerous environmental lawsuits against the federal government and was later appointed administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Chemical Plant Safety

In the aftermath of the 2013 fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, which killed 15 people and injured more than 160, Abbott faced questions about the state's regulatory approach to chemical plant safety. As attorney general, he was involved in discussions about whether to require chemical plants to disclose their inventories of hazardous materials.

Governor of Texas (2015–present)

2014 Gubernatorial Election

Abbott announced his candidacy for governor in 2013, sharing his vision with Republican audiences across the state. In the 2014 general election, he defeated Democratic candidate Wendy Davis, a state senator who had gained national attention for a filibuster against abortion restrictions in the Texas Senate. Abbott won the election, succeeding Rick Perry, who had served as governor since 2000.

Subsequent Elections

Abbott was reelected governor in 2018 and again in 2022, each time consolidating his position as the leader of the Texas Republican Party. His tenure has made him one of the longest-serving governors in Texas history and, as of 2025, the longest-serving incumbent governor in the United States.

COVID-19 Pandemic Response

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Abbott's response generated significant attention and controversy. He opposed implementing statewide face mask mandates and vaccine mandates, and he issued executive orders blocking local governments, businesses, and other organizations from implementing their own mask or vaccine requirements. Abbott's approach positioned Texas as one of the states most resistant to pandemic-related public health mandates, aligning with the positions taken by several other Republican governors.

2021 Winter Storm and Power Crisis

In February 2021, Texas experienced a severe winter storm that caused widespread power outages across the state, leaving millions of residents without electricity and heat for days in freezing temperatures. The crisis exposed significant vulnerabilities in the state's electrical grid, which is operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and is largely isolated from the national grid. In response, Abbott called for reforms to ERCOT and signed legislation requiring power plants to undergo weatherization to better withstand extreme cold weather events. The crisis prompted a broader debate about the structure and regulation of the Texas energy market.

Border Security and Immigration

Border security and immigration enforcement have been central priorities of Abbott's governorship. In 2021, he launched Operation Lone Star, a large-scale deployment of Texas National Guard troops and Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) personnel to the Texas-Mexico border. The operation was intended to deter illegal immigration and interdict drug trafficking.

Abbott has continued to escalate border security measures throughout his tenure. In February 2026, following the killing of cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," Abbott directed DPS to ramp up security operations along the border to "prevent spillover" of cartel violence from Mexico into Texas. Abbott stated that cartels pose a "significant threat to public safety and national security" and deployed Texas Rangers and other elite units to the border region. He also urged Texans in Mexico and those with family traveling there to exercise caution amid a shelter-in-place advisory for American citizens.

Other Policy Positions

As governor, Abbott has supported and signed into law a total ban on abortion in Texas, one of the most restrictive in the United States. He has also promoted lenient gun laws, including signing legislation allowing permitless carry of handguns. Abbott has expressed support for increased law enforcement funding and has pursued election reform measures.

Abbott supported the first presidential administration of Donald Trump and has generally aligned himself with the priorities of the national Republican Party on issues including immigration, energy regulation, and opposition to what he has characterized as federal overreach.

Republican Governors Association

Abbott served as chair of the Republican Governors Association (RGA) from November 21, 2019, to December 9, 2020, succeeding Pete Ricketts and being succeeded by Doug Ducey. The role placed Abbott in a national leadership position within the Republican Party during the 2020 election cycle.

Personal Life

Greg Abbott has been open about the impact of his 1984 accident and his life as a wheelchair user. The accident, which occurred when a falling tree crushed his spine while he was jogging in Houston, left him permanently paralyzed below the waist. Abbott received a legal settlement that provided him with periodic payments, which have continued throughout his career in public service.

Abbott has one child. He resides in the Texas Governor's Mansion in Austin, Texas.

Abbott's disability has been a prominent aspect of his public identity. He is the first governor of Texas to serve while using a wheelchair, and only the third wheelchair-using governor of a U.S. state in American history, after Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York and George Wallace of Alabama.

Recognition

Abbott's career has been marked by several notable distinctions. He is the longest-serving attorney general in Texas history, having held the office for 12 years from 2002 to 2015. As of 2025, he is the longest-serving incumbent governor in the United States.

His successful argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Van Orden v. Perry (2005) established a significant precedent regarding the display of religious monuments on government property and remains one of the most cited cases involving the Establishment Clause.

Abbott's national profile within the Republican Party has grown substantially during his governorship. His tenure as chair of the Republican Governors Association in 2019–2020 placed him in a prominent national party leadership role. His aggressive posture on border security, particularly through Operation Lone Star and subsequent deployments, has drawn national media coverage and positioned Texas as a focal point in the national debate over immigration policy.

Coverage in outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Texas Monthly, and The Texas Tribune has profiled Abbott's career trajectory and political influence. An analysis by The Texas Observer noted the scale of Abbott's campaign fundraising operations and the political influence of his campaign war chest on Texas elections more broadly.

Legacy

Greg Abbott's tenure in Texas government, spanning more than two decades across three branches of state government—judicial, executive (as attorney general), and executive (as governor)—represents one of the most sustained careers in modern Texas politics. His time as attorney general was defined by an aggressive use of the office's litigation powers, particularly against the federal government, a strategy that influenced other Republican attorneys general across the country and helped reshape the role of state attorneys general as partisan counterweights to federal policy.

As governor, Abbott has presided over a period of significant population and economic growth in Texas, while simultaneously navigating major crises including the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 winter storm power grid failure, and ongoing debates over border security and immigration. His policy decisions on abortion, gun laws, pandemic restrictions, and immigration enforcement have made Texas a central state in national political debates and have drawn both support from conservative constituencies and criticism from opponents.

Abbott's political trajectory—from appointed Supreme Court justice to elected attorney general to governor—illustrates the path of advancement within the Texas Republican Party during a period when the party consolidated dominance over state government. His career has coincided with and contributed to the rightward shift of Texas politics over the early 21st century.

His experience as the first wheelchair-using governor of Texas has also contributed to broader visibility for people with disabilities in elected office, though Abbott has generally not made disability advocacy a central plank of his political platform.