Texas Gov. Greg Abbott highlights immigration policies and the state’s economy in prime time

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott gave no hints about running for president in a rare prime-time speech Thursday night, but used it to argue that tough immigration policies, tougher penalties and a booming economy are a model for the rest are the US

“We will ensure that Texas remains the leader of this nation as the undaunted force in this world,” Abbott said during his biennial State of the State, which aired across Texas.

The speech drew applause from inside a Texas factory Abbott had chosen as the backdrop to set out his third-term agenda, but some audiences elsewhere weren’t so enthusiastic.

He didn’t mention last year’s Uvalde school shooting, which killed 19 children and two teachers during the half-hour speech – which was immediately followed on the Texas airwaves by parents of killed Robb elementary school students who criticized him for failing to enforce stricter gun laws supported.

Although Abbott used the speech to identify school safety as a priority for Texas lawmakers over the next three months, he made no specific proposals and reiterated his general opposition to new firearm restrictions.

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The speech came a day after gunshots killed one person and injured three others at an El Paso mall, a shooting that took place across from a large Walmart parking lot that killed 23 people in a 2019 racist attack.

“Some want more gun laws,” Abbott said. He then accused “too many local officials” of not enforcing existing gun laws, but gave no examples.

For most governors, the state of the state seldom strays from pageantry and tradition, serving partly as a highlight reel of past accomplishments and partly as an unveiling of new priorities. Most are held in state capitals before audiences of newly elected lawmakers — as was once the case in Texas.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during his inauguration ceremony in Austin, Texas January 17, 2023. Abbott delivered a primetime address on Thursday night. He used the address to describe immigration policies in the state and to highlight the states’ thriving economy. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, file)

But Abbott not only reimagined them for television, they also took the show to the streets. His speech on Thursday was broadcast from a manufacturing facility in San Marcos along the booming Austin-San Antonio corridor that has become a widespread symbol of Texas’ rapid growth over the past two decades.

Reporters were not granted access to the speech. Nearby, immigrant rights advocates organized a small protest against Abbott’s crackdown on the US-Mexico border.

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Texas Democrats, who staged a dramatic 38-day state house strike two years ago to temporarily halt a GOP package of new voting restrictions, remain heavily outnumbered in the state capitol with little ability to block Abbott’s agenda.

They used their 10 minutes of airtime after Abbott’s speech to broadcast recorded messages from several Uvalde parents, who have been persistent critics of the governor since the shooting last May.

“We ask again, Governor Abbott, please listen to these voices,” said Democratic State Senator Roland Gutierrez, whose district includes Uvalde. “It is too late for these families. But if you show some political bravery, maybe you can save the next family from having to endure that kind of heartbreak.”

Abbott begins a record-breaking third term in which he’s rarely had a tighter grip on Texas. He called on lawmakers to provide an additional $4 billion in border security spending, mandatory 10-year prison sentences for migrant trafficking convictions and an end to all pandemic-era restrictions in Texas.

Abbott, 65, has largely brushed off questions about whether he will run for president like his two predecessors in Texas — former Governors Rick Perry and George W. Bush — but he hasn’t ruled it out.

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Dave Carney, Abbott’s chief strategist, said the governor will study the field of Republican presidential candidates once the Texas legislature adjourns in May. Abbott will then decide whether the race would benefit from his Texas experience, said Carney, who was also a strategist for Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign.

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador to the United Nations, launched a presidential bid this week to become former President Donald Trump’s first major GOP challenger.

“If he doesn’t think he has to walk, he won’t,” Carney said of Abbott. “He’s not this blindly ambitious guy who has to run for the next thing all the time.”