As Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says for now he is only focusing on this year’s legislative session, another potential White House candidate swooped into the Lone Star State to speak to Republican supporters and donors. 


What You Need To Know

  • As Texas Gov. Greg Abbott says for now he is only focusing on this year’s legislative session, another potential White House candidate swooped into the Lone Star State to speak to Republican supporters and donors
  • While former President Donald Trump took center stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside of Washington, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — an expected contender for the Republican presidential nomination — courted Texas Republicans at two fundraising dinners over the weekend
  • Republicans have control of the legislatures in Texas and Florida; in both states, they are passing laws to expand gun rights, are setting new regulations for voting and are targeting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives after calling the efforts “illegal”
  • Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa blasted DeSantis' visit and warned that the policies of the Florida governor and his Texas counterpart threaten access to public education, health care and Social Security

While former President Donald Trump took center stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside of Washington, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — an expected contender for the Republican presidential nomination — courted Texas Republicans at two fundraising dinners over the weekend.

"He picked up on the ‘Don't Mess With Texas’ theme right off the start, and then actually used it to close out the end," state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, said. "Everybody was laughing that, yes, you don't want to mess with Texas. You don't want to tread on Florida. It would be a bad thing for you to do, especially if you're running for national office."

DeSantis headlined the annual GOP events in Harris County and Dallas County amid growing speculation that he will enter the 2024 presidential race.

"We will never ever surrender to the ‘woke mob,’” DeSantis said in Houston. “The state of Florida and the state of Texas is where woke goes to die."

"If you're looking for high-powered, deep-pocketed donors among Republicans, you need to come to Texas," Rebecca Deen, an associate dean at the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Arlington, told Spectrum News.

“It's not really unusual for one state to look over at maybe a neighboring state, or a state that has similar demographics to its own, to look for policy innovation and take that on,” said Deen, who is also a political science professor. “What turns it into the conversation about whether or not its competition is that both of these two individuals are high profile in their state, and of course, Gov. DeSantis is acting every bit the presidential candidate." 

DeSantis downplayed any rivalry with Abbott, a fellow Republican who also is a potential White House candidate, characterizing their two states as allies.

Republicans have control of the legislatures in Texas and Florida. In both states, they are introducing laws to expand gun rights, impose new regulations for voting and target diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

If one state house takes the initiative on an issue, the other follows suit in response. 

"There are no bigger states in the heartland, or you know, the Sunbelt, than Florida and Texas, and really, we're setting standards or maybe we're setting public policy paths that other people can follow and copy," said Bettencourt. “If there's a competition, I welcome it because I think it makes everybody better.”

The Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa blasted DeSantis' visit and warned that the policies of the Florida governor and his Texas counterpart threaten access to public education, health care and social security. 

“Ron DeSantis is an empty suit who pushes as far as he possibly can on nonsensical culture war issues because he thinks it’ll win him support in a Republican presidential primary,” Hinojosa said in a statement.  “It says a lot about our own inept governor that he’s not even shrewd enough to win these ridiculous culture war battles against the Pee-wee Herman of the Republican Party, and that he’d lose in a landslide in a primary to clowns like Ron DeSantis or Donald Trump.”