Protestors Greet Gov. Abbott as He Stumps to Defeat Drew Darby

About 60 supporters for Darby welcomed Abbott as he arrived at the Angry Cactus in San Angelo:

This is Abbott’s second visit to San Angelo this month.

On Feb. 9, Abbott visited the Old Central Firehouse Pizzeria and Taproom, 200 S Magdalen St in downtown. 

His speech at the Angry Cactus was similar, touching on points such as “No men in women's sports” and “Giant” property tax cuts, with the help of Bradley.  

He also spoke over “Radical leftism” in public schools, mentioning Dallas ISD sharing information with students about how to change genders. 

“They should be learning about math and working on reading,” Abbott said. 

With the topic of school choice being brought up, Darby became the central focus of the speech.

“Right now you have a state representative, who went against this ballot proposition,” he said. 

During a packed rally advocating for public education, Darby addressed a crowd of mostly educators and school district personnel at the Le Grand Alumni & Visitors Center in San Angelo on Thursday, Feb. 15.

Darby said his opposition to vouchers was the only initiative of Abbott's that Darby could not support this past 88th Texas Legislative session. In a conversation with Drew Darby, Darby said Abbott's support of Bradley to "primary" him is over this one single vote.

It was here where Darby accused Abbott and others of manipulating the legislative process. 

He said that a promised bill for teacher pay raises was withdrawn when lawmakers rejected a voucher bill that would have redirected public funds into private schools. The pay raises were packed into the same bill as Abbott's $500 million voucher program.

“But all this time, the governor and others are saying, ‘Will give you all these teacher pay raises, and we’ll agree to all these reforms in education; all you have to do is pass this little voucher bill,’” Darby said. “A little in their mind is $500 million. When we stripped out vouchers, the governor and others said, ‘No, we’re going to pull that bill down. We’re not going to allow you to vote for teacher pay raises.’” 

Darby added that in two years, the $500 million annual voucher program will increase to over $2 billion a year. The House Budget Committee scoring reported this.

“We have school choice already; what we don’t have is your public dollars flowing into private schools,” he said. “This is not about school choice; it’s about taxpayer-funded private school entitlement programs because they (those private schools) are the ones who decide whether to let your child in or not. We’re sending a message back that our rural schools don’t want this.” 

Once again, both Abbott and Bradley said that the number one issue in Texas is “Biden’s open-border policy.” 

Regarding border security, Darby said he’s voted in favor of every one of Abbott’s border security bills.

“But what vouchers do is they run contrary to what the Governor is pushing,” he said. “He (Abbott) is trying to say to you that we are trying to keep illegals out. But, what vouchers do is act as a magnet to bring them in.” 

As the rally concluded, Abbott encouraged attendees to exercise their right to vote.

Early voting continues today (Friday) from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday from 7 p.m. to 6 p.m., Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., and February 26 – March 1 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

Voting can be done at the Edd B. & Frances Frink Keyes Building, 113 W. Beauregard Street, on the 1st Floor.

San Angelo LIVE! captured the entire speech at the rally. 

Watch: