Texas Gov. Greg Abbott joined six other sitting governors who have endorsed former President Donald Trump for the 2024 presidential election.
The endorsement came as Trump returned to the U.S.-Mexico border at Edinburg, Texas on Sunday to give support to Texas National Guard soldiers, Texas Department of Public Safety officers, and the other service members trying to provide border security.
“I’m here to tell you that there is no way, no way that America can continue under the leadership of Joe Biden as our president. We need a president who’s going to secure the border,” Abbott said, as he introduced the former president.
“We need a president who is going to restore law and order in the United States of America, not letting these criminals run ransack over the stores that you see images of almost nightly,” Abbott said. “We need a president who is going to restore world peace, as opposed to this outbreak of warfare under Joe Biden. We need Donald J. Trump back as our President of the United States of America. I’m here to officially proclaim my endorsement for Donald J. Trump to be President of the United States of America again!”
Trump said the nomination meant a lot to him. He now has seven of the 26 sitting Republican governors in his camp, or 27% of all the Republican governors.
“You’re not going to have to worry about the border anymore, governor. You’re not going to have to worry about the border in Texas or Arizona or anywhere else,” Trump said.
During the three years of the Biden Administration, more than five million arrests of illegal immigrants have been made at the porous and uncontrolled border. The migrants are coming from all over the world, including the Middle East. Abbott is preparing to sign SB4, allowing state or local law enforcement to arrest anyone illegally crossing the border and allocating $1.5 billion to border security in Texas.
Abbott’s Operation Lone Star border security initiative has made him an enemy of the Biden Administration.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy of Alaska had endorsed Trump three months earlier than Abbott, and is said to be in line for a cabinet position if Trump wins the presidency in 2024. Other sitting governors who have endorsed Trump include Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas, Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia, Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, and Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi.
Lieutenant governors and Secretaries of State who have endorsed Trump include these 10:
- Will Ainsworth, Lieutenant Governor of Alabama
- Andrew Bailey, Attorney General of Missouri
- Pamela Evette, Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
- Mark Hammond, Secretary of State of South Carolina
- Delbert Hosemann, Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi
- Burt Jones, Lieutenant Governor of Georgia
- Mike Kehoe, Lieutenant Governor of Missouri
- Frank LaRose, Secretary of State of Ohio
- Dan Patrick, Lieutenant Governor of Texas
- Mark Robinson, Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina
