Previous Posts:
Introduction
Part 1: How will the Democrats campaign?
Part 2: How will the Republicans campaign?
(Updated: 06/02/14 6:21)
Before talking about how either candidate in the race for Texas Governor will actually attempt to govern it is important to take a look at the office itself. Under Rick Perry, whose long tenure allowed him to fill appointments in almost all areas of the bureaucracy with his friends and political allies, the perceived power of the office grew greatly. Perry also wisely used his office as both a bully pulpit and, primarily through his ability to set the agenda for special sessions, as a tool to drive policy.
Neither Greg Abbott or Wendy Davis are going to have the advantage of appointments under their belts and will need to work with former Perry appointees in key bureaucratic positions which would be more of a challenge for Davis than Abbott due to differences in political ideology.
Dealing with large Republican majorities is going to be an issue for Davis who, should she win, would have to discover the fine line between over vetoing legislation that's politically popular and looking as if she's an inept governor by becoming a rubber stamp who happens to occupy the office. Davis is also going to have to exert serious influence on the entire Democratic delegation (something, due to her rock star status in the party which would grow should she pull the upset, she shouldn't have a problem doing) in order to even get a hearing for her policy priorities.
However, I don't think passing policy would be the primary focus of a Wendy Davis administration. I believe that her primary focus would be to use the bully pulpit of the office in an attempt to plea for Texas voters to change the make-up of both the upper and lower chambers of the Texas legislature. In many ways, she'd be a Texas-lite version of President Obama, constantly campaigning and acting unilaterally where she could to circumvent policies she did not like.
Davis issues page on her campaign website is very heavy on education the issue on which, besides women's health issues and abortion rights, she is trying to base her campaign. It's very clear that a Davis administration would try to increase expenditures for education greatly, and based on past campaign rhetoric she will try to advocate for funding these increases by, at first, eliminating several tax breaks and, eventually, possibly trying to advocate for a full overhaul of Texas' tax code. It is reasonable to forecast that a newly-elected Governor Davis would view her election as a mandate Texas voters want fundamental change and would govern in such a manner.
Greg Abbott's issues page also mentions education although his plans and governing style are likely to be vastly different than Ms. Davis' style. For one, it's very clear that Abbott is planning on continuing the style that he perfected during his time as the State's Attorney General. Rather than pushing a laundry list of policies focused on detail, it appears that a Governor Abbott would leave many of the details of legislation to his ideological colleagues.
Instead, it appears that Abbott would lead through vocalization of key anti-Federal issues and use those to push forward his version of a practical platform. One thing that Abbott is not, is a conservative in the Tea Party mold. Those on the right hoping to see him act as such are going to be disappointed. Abbott will act conservatively on the issues of the 10th and 2nd amendments however, and he has shown a willingness in the past to take aggressive stands within this space.
One thing that neither Abbott or Davis seem willing to change is the use of both the Texas Enterprise and Texas Emerging Technology funds which should be of concern to both limited government/free enterprise conservatives and anti-corporate welfare progressives. Rick Perry made very effective use of these tools politically, I would think that Wendy Davis would be the more likely of the two, especially in areas of green energy, to use both of these tools to her political advantage than would Greg Abbott given their range of issues and rhetoric.
(UPDATED) It appears that I missed this but Greg Abbott has made some pretty strong statements suggesting that he would not be in favor of using the two funds mentioned above. Clearly, from a limited government/reduction in corporate welfare point of view this is a good thing. My apologies to the Abbott campaign for missing this.
Despite their similarities on the two economic funds Texas citizens can expect two entirely different governing styles from each of the two main candidates. In summary, Greg Abbott should be expected to try and govern like an advocate for Texas against the federal government, while Wendy Davis would try and govern as an advocate for Texas working with the federal government.
In the next part the focus will switch to one of the most consequential and interesting races, the race for Lt. Governor where candidates Dan Patrick and Leticia Van de Putte would seemingly govern in entirely different ways.
