BOB PRICE and RANDY CLARK | Breitbart
EDINGURG, Texas — Texas Governor Greg Abbott endorsed former President Donald Trump in his race to become the Republican nominee for President of the United States.
“You need a new president,” Abbott said to the mayors of New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. on Sunday. “Joe Biden has failed at national security. We need a president that will secure the border.”
“We need Donald J. Trump back as our president of the United States of America,” Abbott said. “I’m here today to officially proclaim my endorsement for Donald J. Trump to be President of the United States of America, again.”
Trump responded, saying to Abbott, “I am going to make your job much easier. We love Texas.”
The endorsement came as President Trump and Governor Abbott served tamales to Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and National Guard Soldiers and Airmen in a pre-Thanksgiving meal. The troopers and Guardsmen are assigned to border security duty under Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.
Abbott becomes the fifth governor to endorse the former president during the 2024 Republican primary and joins Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton, Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller on the growing list of Texas statewide elected officials.
Then-President Trump received 52 percent of the vote during his 2020 presidential race against Joe Biden. Trump captured nearly 5.6 million votes in the Lone Star State.
Border issues were a key factor in the Texas election of 2020. During Fiscal Year 2020, President Trump’s last full year in office, Border Patrol agents encountered just over 400,000 migrants. Under the Biden administration’s border and immigration policies, agents encountered just over 407.000 migrants just in the past two months, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Southwest Land Border Encounters Reports.
The governor’s endorsement followed an early Thanksgiving dinner served to DPS troopers and Texas National Guardsmen by the governor and President Trump.
Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council told the audience attending the speech that President Trump shook every hand and took photos with every trooper and guardsman who came to him during the luncheon.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on Twitter @RandyClarkBBTX.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.