Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott plans to support former President Donald Trump for the party’s 2024 nomination if the two men team up near the U.S.-Mexico border on Sunday, Texas Republican Party sources say. confirmed this to FOX News.
The former president joined the governor in Edinburg, Texas, during Mr. Abbott’s annual appreciation for providing tamales to Texas Department of Public Safety members and Texas National Guard members deployed along the southern border under the governor’s “Operation Lone Star” program. Participate in pre-festival traditions.
President Trump endorsed Abbott in 2021 as the conservative governor prepared for re-election and faced multiple major challenges from the right. Mr. Abbott won an overwhelming re-election last March, and in November last year he comfortably defeated his Democratic challenger, former Congressman Beto O’Rourke, securing a third term at the helm of Texas.
DeSantis and Haley begin game in Iowa as they battle for second place behind Trump
Texas Governor Greg Abbott and former President Donald Trump in 2021. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP Pool/File)
Mr. Abbott thanked Mr. Trump for his early support last time, and now appears to be returning the favor, according to people close to the governor’s politics.
The candidate remains in the driver’s seat as the clock ticks down to the first round of voting for the Republican presidential nomination.
Trump, who has won the White House for three consecutive years, is a strong front-runner for the 2024 Republican nomination, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador and former South Carolina Governor Nikki – Mr. Haley is currently competing for second place by a wide margin. I’ll put it in a vote.
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (center), and Republican presidential candidate, former United Nations ambassador and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley (right), look on at the Family Leaders Thanksgiving Family Forum. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (left) gives a speech. Friday in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neighborgal)
Trump’s lead widened throughout the spring and summer as he made history as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime. Trump’s four indictments, including one in federal court in Washington, D.C., and one in Fulton County, Georgia, on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss, have boosted his support among Republican voters. Just increase it.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The former president’s trip to Texas to meet with Mr. Abbott near the border will focus on the combustible issue of illegal immigration and border security. The issue has long been a top concern for Republican voters, and Republican leaders and politicians have harshly criticized President Biden’s administration over the past two and a half years over the surge in migrant crossings.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on Saturday. (AP Photo/Brion Woolgrave)
If he regains the White House, President Trump would launch the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history, imposing a travel ban and the 2019 “Remain in Mexico” program that forced non-Mexican asylum seekers into the country. He promised to revive her. The United States was forced to wait in Mexico to resolve the case at its southern border. President Trump also said he would seek to end automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to immigrants who entered the country illegally, an idea he proposed during his administration.
Mr Biden’s campaign for re-election in 2024 has slammed Mr Trump’s “horrible” proposal, saying it violates the US Constitution, national values and the rights of immigrants.
Border security has also long been a top priority for Mr. Abbott, who has repeatedly battled with the Biden administration.
The Texas Legislature passed a controversial bill this week in a special session called by the governor that would allow state law enforcement authorities to arrest suspected illegal immigrants. Democrats have despised tough immigration legislation.
Get the latest on the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more with Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
