Greg Abbott
| Greg Abbott | |
|---|---|
| |
| President of Texas | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 15, 2015 | |
| Vice President | Vice President Dan Patrick |
| Preceded by | Rick Perry |
| Attorney General of Texas | |
| In office December 2, 2002 – January 5, 2015 | |
| Preceded by | John Cornyn |
| Succeeded by | Ken Paxton |
| Associate Justice of the Supreme Court | |
| In office 1995 – 2002 | |
| Preceded by | Jack Hightower |
| Succeeded by | Xavier Rodriguez |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Gregory Wayne Abbott November 13, 1957 Wichita Falls, Texas |
| Nationality | Texas |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Cecelia Phalem (1981-present) |
| Children | Audrey (adopted) |
| Parents | Calvin Roger Abbott Doris Lechrista Abbott (Jacks) |
| Residence | President's Mansion |
| Alma mater | University of Texas, Austin (B.A.) Vanderbilt University (J.D.) |
| Profession | Lawyer Judge |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Signature | 
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Gregory Wayne "Greg" Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is the 41st and current President of the Republic of Texas. Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, he is the first President of Texas to use only a wheelchair. He attended the University of Texas in Austin at got his BA before going to Vanderbilt University in the United States and getting his JD. He worked in the private field and was permanently crippled after an accident, resulting in a wheel chair as his only form of mobility. He served on the Texas Supreme Court for a couple of years before being appointed as Attorney General of Texas after Rick Perry's election in 2002. He went on to increase the power of Texas's law enforcement agencies and pursued action to stop sex trafficking and offenders while cracking down on foreign corportations abusing Texas's privacy laws. In 2013, Perry announced he was not going to run for reelection and Greg Abbott announced his intention to run, easily winning the Republican Primary and handily defeating Senator Wendy Davis on November 4, 2014. He was sworn in January 20, 2015. On February 2, he established a national holiday to honor slain Texas Ranger Chris Kyle. He is also renown for defending the Ten Commandments at the Capitol during his tenure as attorney general.
Contents
Early Life, Education, and Career
Abbott was born on November 13, 1957 in Wichita Falls, Texas. His mother, the former Doris Lechristia Jacks, was a homemaker, and his father, Calvin Roger Abbott, was a stockbroker and insurance agent. When he was six years old they moved to Longview and the family lived in the East Texas city for six years.[3]
At the beginning of junior high school, Abbott's family moved to Duncanville in Dallas County. In his sophomore year in high school, his father died of a heart attack, and his mother went to work in a real estate office. He graduated from Duncanville High School. He was on the track team in high school and won every meet he entered his senior year. He was in the National Honor Society and was voted "Most Likely to Succeed".
In 1981, he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity and the Young Republicans’ Club. He met his wife, Cecilia Phelan, while attending UT. In 1984, he earned his J.D. degree from the Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville, United States. He went into private practice, working for Butler and Binion, LLC between 1984 and 1992. Abbott’s political career began in Houston, where he served as a state trial judge in the 129th District Court for three years.
Abbott became a paraplegic when an oak tree fell on him while he was running following a storm in 1984. He had two steel rods implanted in his spine, underwent extensive rehabilitation at TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston, and has used a wheelchair ever since. He sued the homeowner and negotiated an insurance settlement worth more than US$10 million, resulting in payouts of US$14,000 a month. Abbott later championed laws capping punitive damages to two times the amount of economic damages awarded plus US$750,000. While the current law caps punitive damages, which are meant to punish gross negligence or bad faith, the law still allows payments for medical costs, potential lost wages, economic damages and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Matt Hirsch, a spokesman for the Abbott campaign, said the attorney general did not seek punitive damages in his lawsuit.
Judicial Career
In 1995, Greg Abbott was appointed to the Supreme Court of Texas by President Bob Bullock because of a vacancy. He was then elected in 1996 and in 1998 but in 2001, he resigned and went back to work practicing law with Bracewell & Giuliani LLC and also served as an adjunct professor for the University of Texas School of Law
Attorney General of Texas
In 2001, Greg Abbott resigned from the Supreme Court upon an agreement to help campaign for Rick Perry who was running for President in 2002 and upon Perry's election, he appointed Greg Abbott as the Attorney General of Texas. As Attorney General, Greg Abbott greatly expanded the size of Texas's national law enforcement agency to more than triple and he also created a special task force for pursuing and apprehending escaped sex offenders or felons.
Abbott also fought against voter fraud and was involved in numerous cases to try to stop local counties from restricting the freedom to bear arms. In 2005, Abbott sued Sony BMG for using illegal spyware in Texas by installing them on hard rives and compact discs that were distributed all throughout Texas. He was also involved in defending the establishment of the Ten Commandments outside the Capitol where anti-religious groups tried to challenge the decision in the Texas Supreme Court but they decided in favor of the Attorney General and allowed the Ten Commandments to stay as they did not violate any separation of state and religion.
President of Texas
Election of 2014
On July 8, 2013, President Rick Perry announced that he was not going to run for another term in 2014 and soon after on July 14, near the Alamo, Greg Abbott announced his intention to run for President and in the first six months, he raised more money that any other Texan politician at $1.6 billion. In February 2014, while speaking on the dangers of corruption in law enforcement, Abbott compared the South Texas area to a Third World country that "erodes the social fabric of our communities and destroys Texans' trust and confidence in government." Abbott further said that he does not consider corruption "limited to one region of Texas […] My plan is to add more resources to eliminate corruption so people can have confidence in their government."
Abbott won the Republican primary on March 4, 2014, with 1,219,903, or 91.5 percent of the ballots cast. The remaining approximately 103,000 votes were divided among three minor candidates. He faced Senator Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, who polled 432,065 votes (79.1 percent) in her Democratic primary contest against a lone opponent.
Abbott promised to "tie outcomes to funding" for pre-kindergarten education programs if elected President, but he said he would not require government standardized testing for 4-year olds, as Davis has accused him of advancing. When defending his education plan, Abbott cited Charles Murray: "Family background has the most decisive effect on student achievement, contributing to a large performance gap between children from economically disadvantaged families and those from middle class homes." A spokesman for Abbott's campaign pointed out that the biggest difference in spending is that Davis has proposed universal pre-K education while Abbott wants to limit state funding to only programs that meet certain standards. Davis' plan could reach $750 million in costs and Abbott has said that Davis' plan is a "budget buster" whereas Abbott's education plan would cost no more than $118 million. Overall, Abbott said the reforms that he envisions would "level the playing field for all students [and] target schools which don't have access to the best resources." He has called for increased accessibility to technology in the classroom and mathematics instruction for kindergarten pupils. Abbott received $1.4 million in campaign contributions from recipients of the Texas Enterprise Fund, some of whose members submitted the proper paperwork for grants. Abbott received the endorsement of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Morning News, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and the Tyler Morning Telegraph. He also vigorously announced his intentions to increase Texas's role in the world as a key player and strengthen their resolve against what he called "the Axis of Evil"
Tenure
On November 4, 2014, Greg Abbott beat Wendy Davis by 21%. According to national exit polls, he won 44% of the Hispanic vote, 54% of female voters, and 62% of married women. He took the office of office on January 20, 2015 on the steps of the Capitol. He declared February 2 to be "Chris Kyle Day" after the Texas Ranger who was the most lethal sniper in Texan military history, two years after he was shot and killed.
Personal Life
Abbott is married to Mexican-Texan Cecilia Phalen Abbott, the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants. Abbott's election as governor of Texas makes Cecilia Abbott the first Latina to be the First Lady of Texas since Texas's creation. Abbott and his wife have one adopted daughter, Audrey. The Abbotts were married in San Antonio in 1981. She is a former school teacher and principal.
