For The Record

You may have seen Governor Greg Abbott's fundraising letter going around. It's worth reading carefully, because he made a compelling case against himself.

He opens by admitting Democrats turned out 2.3 million votes in the Texas primary compared to 2.2 million Republicans. That is the first sentence of a fundraising letter from the sitting MAGA governor of the biggest red state in America. It is also the first time Democrats have outvoted Republicans in a Texas primary since 2020.

Then he lists his accomplishments. Property tax relief, for Texans who have watched their property taxes climb for years under Republican control of every level of state government. The Texas Tribune reported this year that despite tens of billions spent on cuts, property taxes remain high and Republicans are running out of ideas to bring them down. A University of Houston political scientist told the Tribune that Republicans have been hearing Texans complain about property taxes for multiple decades and still have not fixed it.

Border security achievements, after spending more than $11 billion of your tax money on Operation Lone Star. A joint investigation by ProPublica, the Texas Tribune, and the Marshall Project found little evidence the operation lowered illegal crossing levels at all. The state was also caught inflating its own arrest numbers by including more than 2,000 charges with no connection to the border, including sexual assault and stalking. Abbott's own office later removed those numbers after reporters started asking questions. At least 17 Texas National Guardsmen died during that mission. At least seven of those deaths were suicides. Army Times reported a wave of suicides tied directly to the conditions of the deployment, including involuntary call-ups, delayed pay, poor living conditions, and denied hardship requests.

Everything he is asking you to pay him to fix was broken by him.

He also found space to go after the Democratic nominee for US Senate over gender, mocking him with a line about God being "non-binary," and to list designating CAIR, an American civil rights organization, as a terrorist group among his proudest accomplishments. Denton County has tens of thousands of South Asian, Muslim, and immigrant residents. That line was written to make you hate your neighbors.

Then comes the ask. He wants $150, $75, or $50 from you to fund a ground game in all 254 counties, and he says his goal is to raise $250,000. This is a man who entered this race with more than $106 million already in his campaign account. Nine figures in the bank, and he is mailing begging letters to regular Texans for $50 to chase a quarter million. The grift is strong with this one.

Primary vote totals, 2.3 million Democratic against 2.2 million Republican: https://www.texastribune.org/2026/03/04/texas-2026-primary-turnout-democratic-republican/

Operation Lone Star, $11 billion cost: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/22/texas-border-migrant-apprehensions-abbott-operation-lone-star/

Operation Lone Star, no documented reduction in illegal crossings: https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-border-operation-is-meant-to-deter-cartels-and-smugglers-more-often-it-imprisons-lone-men-for-trespassing https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/27/texas-operation-lone-star-greg-abbott-border/

At least 17 soldier deaths including at least seven suicides: https://texasstandard.org/stories/texas-national-guard-operation-lone-star-soldier-deaths-suicides/ https://www.npr.org/2024/12/26/nx-s1-5228035/operation-lone-star-takes-toll-on-national-guard-troops-tasked-with-enforcing-it https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2021/12/23/wave-of-suicides-hits-texas-national-guards-border-mission/

Property taxes rising under Republican control: https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/10/greg-abbott-property-taxes-voters/ https://www.texasobserver.org/high-cost-property-tax-cuts-texas/

Source for the $106 million figure: https://www.klgates.com/thought-leadership/2026-Texas-Primary-Election-Results-How-Texas-Politics-Impacts-Your-Market-3-10-2026