If you live in Texas and not under a rock, you must have seen the Greg Abbott advertisement. It is everywhere on television and the internet. If you haven’t seen it, here it is:
It begins by claiming he has transformative policies. Ann Richards left the governor’s office in 1995. Since then Republicans have dominated state politics. What is Abbott transforming?
His first example is slashing property taxes. I have already addressed this in https://patdixon.org/property-tax/. Unless he identifies spending cuts pertinent to local property taxes (such as school districts, counties, cities, emergency services, etc) he should be ignored.
His next example is a constitutional ban on an income tax. Texas does not have an income tax. What is he transforming?
His last example is a ban on boys playing in girls sports. I agree with the policy, but I don’t believe it demonstrates the extraordinary transformation Abbott claims it does. The last time there was a documented issue was when Mack Beggs, who was assigned female at birth, won the state wrestling championship as a girl in 2017 and 2018. Is there some epidemic that Abbott is trying to fix?
The ad finishes with Abbott saying we need to stop the Democratic socialists. I find it notable that someone that appears to be a socialist in practice is attacking other socialists. This may seem hyperbolic, but if you read Abbott’s annual report or my summary (https://patdixon.org/the-abbott-report/) you have to conclude that Abbott takes pride in taxing you to control the means of production. That is the definition of socialism.
You can expect different ads as we get closer to November 3. This ad is probably being used to soften the soil with his base. As they do more opposition research, you can expect more potent attack ads funded by his huge campaign war chest. It will be interesting to see who he will attack. Abbott has already been attacking James Talarico, who is not his opponent. If he starts attacking Gina Hinajosa then you will know the election will be close. I would love for him to attack me.