Fort Worth Inc.
"I thank them for their endorsement, but more importantly, I thank them for what they do every single day," Gov. Greg Abbott says of law enforcement.
On the sixth day of the year, as foretold, there arrived … election season.
The governor swooped into Fort Worth on Tuesday to pick up a late Christmas gift, delivered here on special order — the endorsement of law enforcement.
Officials from police officers associations in Fort Worth, Arlington, Dallas, Corpus Christi, and San Antonio, along with the Fort Worth Black Police Officers Association and the National Latino Law Enforcement Association, presented Republican Gov. Greg Abbott with a full-throated endorsement at a campaign event at the Fort Worth Police Officers Association headquarters downtown.
Also on hand to formally throw support behind Abbott’s bid for an unprecedented fourth term was Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, the Tarrant County Law Enforcement Association, and the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas.
“Ever since I've been a judge or attorney general or governor, I've always had the back of our law enforcement officers,” Abbott said. “And as governor, I will continue to have their back every single day. Today they are reaffirming that commitment with their endorsement of my campaign for reelection, and I cannot thank them enough.”
Local elected Republican officials joined in the public reception. In addition to Waybourn, elected public officials included Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare; Tarrant County Commissioner Manny Ramirez, former Fort Worth Police officer and president of the POA who served as de facto master of ceremony; state Sen. Phil King; and Fort Worth City Councilman Alan Blaylock, who is running for the Texas state House. Leigh Wambsganss, Republican candidate vying to succeed Kelly Hancock in the state Senate, was also in attendance.
The sheriff called Abbott a once-in-a-generation leader who worked alongside law enforcement in confronting drug trafficking and likened the governor to Dwight Eisenhower and Sam Houston, the hero of San Jacinto who was ushered out unceremoniously from the state Capitol for daring to remain a Union man in 1861.
Rhetorical excesses aside — the sheriff also called the governor “combat-riddled” — if returned to office in November, Abbott would become the first person elected to four terms as governor. Former Gov. Rick Perry is the longest-serving governor. He served out George W. Bush’s second term, from 2001-03, and then three terms of his own.
The political ring is littered with hats. In fact, if you’re still wearing your sombrero, you clearly have no ambition. Abbott is one of 11 candidates who will be on the Republican primary ballot in March. There is no serious opposition to him, however.
He’ll as surely win the nomination as the Dallas Cowboys will go 7-9-1 next year.
In the Democrat primary, 10 are vying to lead the ticket in November, and that’s after Andrew White, son of the former Gov. Mark White, climbed inside the ropes to retrieve his hat — presumably believing the pelt was not sturdy enough to sustain the sting of another primary defeat. White endorsed state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, a daughter of the Valley and elected to the House five times. Former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell, who has a hat with wrinkled folds from a past race for governor, is also making the race. So is a guy named Bobby Cole, a retired firefighter, “cattle man and poultry producer.” He is pledging to fight for Texans “who’ve been ignored, squeezed, and written off.”
If he can manage to get all of those ignored, squeezed, and written off to vote for him, he’ll win in a landslide.
Abbott used a question as an opportunity to elaborate on the importance of law enforcement, as well as pick on Dallas, saying the city’s reluctance or inability to fully staff its police operations directly led to AT&T’s announcement on Monday that it’s moving to Plano.
City officials have asserted that Dallas can reach the charter-mandated minimum of 4,000 police officers by 2029, but the plan depends on hiring targets the City Council scaled back last year. While projections call for hiring 350 officers annually starting last fall and 400 per year thereafter, the council voted to set the current goal at 300, citing concerns that higher targets could strain training capacity and worsen response times. Dallas currently employs about 3,200 officers and continues to lose large numbers annually to attrition.
“Dallas is bearing the burden of their failure to have fully staffed law enforcement [and] their failure to contain a homeless problem,” said Abbott, who has never won the city of Dallas as governor. “It is the responsibility of local leaders to fully fund their local law enforcement. Because Dallas did not do that, AT&T is now moving out of downtown Dallas. That's not the only thing we're seeing. Dallas is losing property tax revenue because they refused to step up and do what was needed.”
There’s a reason former Police Chief Eddie Garcia didn’t linger, either.
Fort Worth, meanwhile, needs 103 officers to be fully staffed — 1,900 sworn officers — by the end of this year, according to the new chief, that same Eddie Garcia. In 2025, Fort Worth had a law enforcement spending problem, paying $25 million in overtime to police officers. One officer earned an extra $125,000 in overtime.
Crime does pay.
Policing and law enforcement are indeed always a top concern of the governed and a factor to executives and entrepreneurs who bring economic development to communities. But so, too, are the issues of affordability, particularly as it concerns housing, property taxes, and insurance.
We have only just begun the advent of election season.