Greg Abbott Net Worth, Family, wife, Education, Children, Age, Biography, Political Career

Greg Abbott Biography

Gregory Wayne Abbott is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Attorney General of Texas from 2002 to 2015 and as a member of the Texas Supreme Court from 1996 to 2001. Abbott was elected governor in 2014 and re-elected in 2018.

Abbott was the third Republican to serve as Attorney General of Texas since Reconstruction. He was initially elected to that office with 57 percent of the vote in 2002, re-elected with 60 percent in 2006, and 64 percent in 2010, becoming the longest-serving Texas Attorney General in state history with 12 years of service. Before assuming the office of attorney general, Abbott was a justice of the Texas Supreme Court, a position to which he was initially appointed in 1995 by then-governor George W. Bush. Abbott won a full term in 1998 with 60 percent of the vote. As Attorney General, he successfully advocated for the Texas State Capitol to display the Ten Commandments in the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case Van Orden v. Perry, and unsuccessfully defended the states ban on same-sex marriage. He was involved in numerous lawsuits against the Barack Obama administration, seeking to invalidate the Affordable Care Act and the administrations environmental regulations.

In July 2013, Abbott declared his candidacy in the 2014 Texas gubernatorial election. He won the Republican primary and subsequently won the general election by 19 points. He is the first governor of Texas and third governor of a U.S. state to use a wheelchair. As Governor, Abbott supported the Donald Trump administration, and has promoted a conservative agenda, including measures against abortion such as the Texas Heartbeat Act, promoted more lenient gun laws and restrictions, opposed illegal immigration, opposed decreasing law enforcement funding, and promoted election reforms to reduce probability of non-citizens voting and secure elections. In response to the power crisis following a February 2021 winter storm, Abbott called for reforms to Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and signed a bill requiring power plant weatherization. Abbotts approach to handling the COVID-19 pandemic has been controversial, as he has resisted implementing face mask and vaccine mandates, while blocking local governments, businesses and other organizations from implementing their own.

Greg Abbott Net Worth

Greg Abbott Net Worth is $ 14 Million in 2022.

Greg Abbott Family, Parents

Gregory Wayne Abbott was born on November 13, 1957, in Wichita Falls, Texas, of English descent. His mother, Doris Lechristia Jacks Abbott, was a stay at home wife and his father, Calvin Rodger Abbott, was a stockbroker and insurance agent. When he was six years old, they moved to Longview; the family lived in the East Texas city for six years. At the beginning of junior high school, Abbotts family moved to Duncanville. In his sophomore year in high school, his father died of a heart attack. his mother went to work in a real estate office.

Greg Abbott Wife, Children

Abbott, a Roman Catholic, is married to Cecilia Phalen Abbott, the granddaughter of Mexican immigrants. They were married in San Antonio in 1981. His election as governor of Texas made her the first Latina to be First Lady of Texas since Texas joined the union. They have one adopted daughter, Audrey. Cecilia is a former school teacher and principal.

Greg Abbott Career and Achievement

Judicial Career

Abbotts judicial career began in Houston, where he served as a state trial judge in the 129th District Court for three years. Then-Governor George W. Bush appointed Abbott to the Texas Supreme Court, he was then twice elected to the states highest civil court — in 1996 (two-year term) and in 1998 (six-year term). In 1996, Abbott had no Democratic opponent but was challenged by Libertarian John B. Hawley of Dallas. Abbott defeated Hawley by a margin of 84 percent to 16 percent. In 1998, Abbott defeated Democrat David Van Os by 60 percent to 40 percent.

In 2001, after resigning from the Supreme Court, Abbott went back to private practice and worked for Bracewell & Giuliani LLC. He was also an adjunct professor at University of Texas School of Law.

Attorney General of Texas

2002 Election

Abbott resigned from the Texas Supreme Court in 2001 to seek the position of Lieutenant Governor of Texas. His campaign for Lieutenant Governor had been running for several months when the previous attorney general, John Cornyn, vacated the post to run for the U.S. Senate. He then switched his campaign to the open attorney generals position in 2002. Abbott defeated the Democratic nominee, former Austin mayor and former state senator Kirk Watson, 57 percent to 41 percent. Abbott was sworn in on December 2, 2002, following fellow Republican Cornyns election to the Senate.

Governor of Texas

2014 Election

In July 2013, shortly after Governor Rick Perry announced that he would not seek a fourth full term, Abbott announced his intention to run for Governor of Texas in the 2014 Texas gubernatorial election. In the first six months of 2011, he raised more money for his campaign than any other Texas politician, reaching $1.6 million. The next highest fundraiser among state officeholders was Texas comptroller Susan Combs with $611,700.

Abbott won the Republican primary on March 4, 2014, with 91.5 percent of the ballots cast. He faced state senator Wendy Davis of Fort Worth in the general election.

Abbott promised to "tie outcomes to funding" for pre-K programs if elected governor, 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 Abbotts campaign pointed out that the biggest difference in spending was that Davis had proposed universal pre-K education while Abbott wanted to limit state funding to programs that meet certain standards. Daviss plan could reach $750 million in costs and Abbott has said that her plan was a "budget buster" whereas Abbotts education plan would cost no more than $118 million. Overall, Abbott said the reforms that he envisioned would "level the playing field for all students & target schools which dont have access to the best resources." He called for greater access 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. Elliot Nagin of the Union of Concerned Scientists observed that Abbott was the recipient of large support from the fossil fuels industries, such as NuStar Energy, Koch Industries, Valero Energy, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips. Abbott received the endorsement of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Dallas Morning News, the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal and the Tyler Morning Telegraph. Abbott, and his running mate for lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, were endorsed by the National Rifle Association and received their A rating.

Abbott defeated Davis by about 19 percentage points in the November general election.

2018 Election

In January 2017, Abbott was reportedly raising funds for a 2018 re-election bid as governor; as of December 2016, he had $34.4 million on hand for his campaign, of which he had raised $9 million during the second half of 2016. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick had been mentioned as a potential challenger, but confirmed that he would run for a second term as lieutenant governor. During the weekend of January 21, 2017, Abbott stated that he intended to run for re-election. He confirmed this on March 28, 2017.

Abbott formally announced his re-election campaign on July 14, 2017. This came four days before the start of a special legislative session that could split the Republican Party into factions favoring Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Patrick on one hand, and House speaker Joe Straus on the other. Straus represented the Moderate Republican faction, which opposes much of the social conservative agenda pursued by Abbott and Patrick.

In the November 6 general election, Abbott defeated Democratic nominee Lupe Valdez with about 56 percent of the vote, having out-raised her 18-to-1. Abbott received 42 percent of the Hispanic and 16 percent of the African-Americans vote.

2022 Election

Abbott is running for a third term and faces challengers from within his own party. His rivals include the former chairman of the Texas Republican Party, Allen West. The opposition Democrats do not yet have an announced candidate. Abbott has a large campaign funding advantage over this opponents.

If successful, Abbott would become the fifth Texas Governor to serve three terms since Allan Shivers, Price Daniel, John Connally and Rick Perry.

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