Abbott Launches Fourth-Term Campaign, Pledges to ‘Keep Texas, Texas’

By Kayla Guo, The Texas Tribune
November 9, 2025

AUSTIN, TX - Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday launched his campaign for a fourth term as governor, framing his pitch to a crowd of hundreds in Houston as a means to maintain Texas as a “bastion of common sense in a country reeling from far-left, progressive insanity.”

“Texas is not just another state — it’s our home. Our heritage,” Abbott said in his speech. “As Texans, we will defend this state with every fiber of our being. We will protect what we built, finish what we started and lead Texas into its glorious future.”

Both reflecting on his decade as governor and previewing his priorities for a fourth term, Abbott touted a series of conservative achievements in affordability, education, border security and more.

A week after Texas voters approved several constitutional amendments to reduce property taxes, Abbott vowed to go further to rein in local taxing power through a slate of five policy proposals he unveiled Sunday. 

“Local governments are hiking your property taxes incessantly,” he said. “It’s time to drive a stake through the heart of local property tax hikes for good.”

He said voters should be allowed to vote on abolishing school property taxes and that any property tax increases should require two-thirds approval from voters. He added that Texans should have “the right to rollback property tax rates”; appraisals should take place only once every five years; and that the appraisal cap — the amount the appraised value of a property can increase by year over year — should be dropped from 10% to 3%. 

Abbott also promoted the passage of private school vouchers, public school funding and measures abolishing diversity and inclusion practices in schools and barring trans athletes from participating in women’s sports — arguing that these efforts were putting Texas on the path to become the top state for education.

And he listed off stricter bail practices, the state’s border and immigration crackdown and various investments and regulation cuts in health care and housing as other banner achievements of his tenure.

“What we have in Texas is precious. But it can all be destroyed in one bad election,” he said, arguing that Democrats were bought by billionaires and, if elected, would “crush your economy, destroy your jobs, and increase your taxes.”

“Tonight, we have a message for Democrats and their socialist backers: This is Texas,” he said.
“We will defend our culture, and we will safeguard our Texas values, from the radicals who are trying to shove our state to the left.”

Abbott heads into this election cycle with almost $90 million on hand, a staggering war chest for any challenger to overcome. He broke records last year in accepting $10 million from Pennsylvania GOP megadonor and voucher advocate Jeff Yass, whose initial $6 million donation to Abbott was the largest single political donation in Texas history.

State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, businessman Andrew White and rancher Bobby Cole are running for the Democratic nomination to take on Abbott. 

After a decade in the governor’s mansion marked by numerous conservative political and policy wins, the once-restrained governor has transformed into a partisan warrior closely aligned with President Donald Trump and more willing to embrace a scorched earth politics to achieve his aims.

Abbott managed to push through his top priority — private school vouchers — this legislative session after spending millions in the 2024 primaries to oust anti-voucher Republican incumbents in the Texas House. 

This summer, under pressure from Trump, Abbott placed mid-decade congressional redistricting on the special session agenda, eventually signing into law a new map that looks to give the GOP five additional congressional seats in next year’s midterm.

For both those efforts, he and Republican lawmakers won kudos from Trump.

Abbott has also indicated he will direct a significant amount of his funds to flipping Harris County red — up and down the ballot.

“We are Texans, and in 2026 we will remind the whole world that the spirit of Texas will never be broken,” Abbott said. “We will defend this great state. We will leave our children and grandchildren a Texas that is safer, stronger, freer and more prosperous than ever before. So tonight, join me in this fight. Let’s keep Texas, Texas.”

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.