Texas Gov. Abbott Runs for Record 4th Term

The governor vowed to boost public education and fight to keep Texas free and prosperous.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a news conference in the State Capitol in Austin on Aug. 15, 2025. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Gov. Greg Abbott will ask Texas voters to elect him for a fourth term in 2026 as he seeks to break the state’s record as its longest-serving governor.

The Republican governor announced his decision Sunday at a golf course in Houston.

With several legislative wins under his belt, the governor promised to keep the spirit of Texas alive by focusing on freedom, affordability, better education, and lower property taxes.

“We will win this election,” he said during his campaign speech. “We will defend this great state. We will leave our children and grandchildren a Texas that’s safer, stronger, freer, and more prosperous than ever.”

Texas does not have term limits for state offices, allowing governors to serve an unlimited number of terms.

If elected, he would break former Gov. Rick Perry’s record for longest-serving Texas governor.

Perry assumed the position in December 2000 after George W. Bush resigned to become president, and then served three terms as the 47th governor of the state, leaving after 14 years in office.

Abbott heads into the election with almost $90 million on hand. Last year, he accepted $10 million from Pennsylvania GOP donor Jeff Yass, co-founder of the trading firm Susquehanna International Group.

Most of those funds went to unseating Republican House members who opposed Abbott’s $1 billion private-school voucher program, which passed in April.

“We transformed education to improve the education for every generation in Texas,” Abbott said.

Beyond the school-choice program, the governor said he wanted to focus next on making all schools better across the state. Under his leadership, the state funded the largest budget increase ever for public schools in the state and passed $4 billion in funding for teacher raises, he said.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a bill signing in the State Capitol in Austin on April 23, 2025. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Texas is the top state for oil and gas production, cattle, and cotton. It is also a major player in all aspects of the private space sector and home to SpaceX and NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

The governor vowed to continue bolstering the state’s economy and cut property taxes. The state passed 17 constitutional amendments this month, which included cuts to taxes across the state and lower taxes on every homestead. More than half of all seniors also pay no school district property taxes, Abbott said. He promised to go after more local property tax hikes in his next term.

Abbott also touted the state’s support for law enforcement and criminal justice. The governor led the effort to defund any Texas city that passed local laws defunding the police.

Texas also played a major role in closing the border during the Biden administration’s illegal immigrant influx by building its own wall and installing razor wire, despite lawsuits against it by the Biden administration.

Most recently, Texas Republicans passed a redistricting effort to redraw congressional maps that could result in five more GOP seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

“What we have in Texas is truly precious,” Abbott said, “but it can all be destroyed in one bad election.”

Abbott’s latest approval rating was 39 percent, with 50 percent disapproving, according to the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

Texas State Representative Gina Hinojosa (D-District 49) speaks at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on Aug. 12, 2021. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Democrats have already lined up to try to unseat the popular governor of the nation’s second-largest state with 31.3 million residents.

State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, businessman Andrew White, and rancher Bobby Cole are running for governor in the Democratic primary.

After Abbott’s announcement, Hinojosa said under her opponent’s watch, costs in the state had gone up.

“He does not deserve an unprecedented 4th term,” Hinojosa posted on X. “Texans deserve a new governor—one who’s committed to hardworking Texas families, not wealthy donors.”

Two other Republicans have declared their candidacy for the primary: retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and Special Forces Green Beret Pete Chambers, and Ronnie Tullos, a Texas state guardsman and ironworker.