Greg Abbott

Greg Abbott is the Governor of Texas. He assumed office on January 20, 2015. His current term ends on January 19, 2027. Abbott was born in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1957. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor's degree in finance and later earned a law degree from Vanderbilt University. Shortly after graduating from law school, Abbott was paralyzed from the waist down when a tree fell on him while jogging. Abbott worked in private practice as an attorney from 1984 to 1992. He then served as a judge on the 129th District Court in Houston from 1993 to 1995. In 1996, Governor George W. Bush appointed Abbott to the Texas Supreme Court, where he served until 2001. Abbott first held elected office when he won election as the attorney general of Texas in 2002 by a margin of 15.6 percentage points. As attorney general, Abbot argued on behalf of Texas before the Supreme Court of the United States in defense of a Ten Commandments statue on the grounds of the state's capitol. He also filed more than 30 lawsuits against the federal government during Barack Obama's presidency, including challenges to an executive order related to deferred action, the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, and EPA regulations.