Back in the GOP primary, about 33% of GOP voters did not vote for Governor Greg Abbott.   They voted against him over pandemic mandates or anger over the border.  It appears that those GOP voters are coming home.  In recent polls, the governor is settling in the 50s or where you want to be in a reelection.   This is from the Texas Tribune:    

Gov. Greg Abbott leads Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke by 11 percentage points with three days until early voting starts for the election, according to a new poll from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.

It is one of the wider advantages that Abbott has registered with likely voters in public polling. Abbott had a smaller 5-point advantage in the last UT poll, which was done around early September, though that was among registered voters. After Labor Day, pollsters tend to switch from registered-voter samples to likely-voter samples.

Abbott garnered the support of 54% of likely voters in the latest poll, while O’Rourke got 43%. Two percent picked third-party candidates and another 2% said they supported someone else.

It's starting to settle down but let's wait for the voters to cast their ballots.

I plan to vote for the governor because he has been a steady hand.  He is not flashy like Governor Rick Perry or an instant national figure like Governor George W. Bush.  He is done his job well and that merits another term.

The governor is fortunate that the Democrats nominated Beto O'Rourke, a man who is doing everything he can to distance himself from the Biden administration or the collection of "Beto's greatest hits" from the failed presidential run.   

In fact, every Abbott ad is based on one of those "greatest hits", from taking your AR-15 to defunding the police.  The governor's ad team is enjoying pointing out just how liberal the other guy is.  

Finally, we are probably watching two men in their last campaign.  I don't think that the governor wants a 4th term in 2026.  At the same time, it's hard to see O'Rourke running for anything in Texas for a long time.  We never say never but O'Rourke will probably be pairing up with Stacey Abrams on some podcast or TV show. Maybe it will be called "Election integrity and saving our democracy." It won't get much of an audience but apparently nobody cares about that anymore at some cable news channels.

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Image: Gage Skidmore