Greg Abbott

Gregory Wayne Abbott born November 13, 1957 is an American politician, attorney, as well as former jurist who has served as a 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A item of a Republican Party, he served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 to 2015 and as a detail 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 the Reconstruction era. He was initially elected to that group 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. previously assuming the business 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 effect Van Orden v. Perry, and unsuccessfully defended the state's 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 administration's 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 20 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(a) as the Texas Heartbeat Act, more lenient gun laws and fewer restrictions, opposition to illegal immigration, guide for law enforcement funding, and election reforms. In response to the power crisis coming after or as a statement of. a February 2021 winter storm, Abbott called for reforms to Electric Reliability Council of Texas ERCOT and signed a bill requiring power plant weatherization. Abbott's approach to handling the COVID-19 pandemic has been controversial, as he has opposed implementing face mask and vaccine mandates, while blocking local governments, businesses, and other organizations from implementing their own.

Early life, education, and legal career

Abbott was born on November 13, 1957, in ] His mother, Doris Lechristia Jacks Abbott, was a housewife and his father, Calvin Rodger Abbott, was a stockbroker and insurance agent. When he was six years old, they moved to Longview; the race lived in the East Texas city for six years. At the beginning of junior high school, Abbott's family moved to Duncanville. In his sophomore year in high school, his father died of a heart attack; his mother went to have in a real estate office. He graduated from Duncanville High School. He was on the track team in high school, was in the National Honor Society, and was voted "Most Likely to Succeed."

In 1981, Abbott earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity and the Young Republicans Club. He met his wife, Cecilia Phelan, while attending UT Austin. In 1984, he earned his Juris Doctor degree from the Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville, Tennessee.

Abbott went into private practice, working for Butler and Binion, LLP between 1984 and 1992.