Gov. Abbott’s problem attracting far-right voters shows up in the reddest Texas counties

As dominating as Gov. Greg Abbott’s GOP primary victory on Tuesday looked at first blush, a closer look at the results shows a nagging problem within his own party that could ultimately cost him in his race against Democratic nominee Beto O’Rourke. Although two-thirds of the Republican Party voters statewide backed Abbott for a record-tying third term as governor, some of the most important GOP counties in Texas signaled the continuation of a mini-revolt against him. In fast-growing Montgomery County, Abbott won 56 percent of the vote. That’s a strong number in most counties, but in rock-solid red Montgomery it’s eyebrow raising. No county was more important for former President Donald Trump in Texas in 2020 than Montgomery. He won 71 percent of the vote there — the biggest win of any county with at least 100,000 voters in Texas. And in Collin County, a GOP suburban stronghold north of Dallas with a strong tea party contingent, Abbott hit 60 percent. Again good, but well behind the 70 to 80 percent he won in places like Bexar, Cameron on the border and Potter County in the Panhandle.

The results hint at a problem other Republicans have been talking about for months. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said there is a contingent of voters within the Republican Party who are very angry with Abbott over the way he handled the pandemic and who might just skip the race. “There’s no way they’ll ever vote for Beto, but they aren’t going to vote for Abbott,” Miller said. Despite the 56 percent vote percentage in Montgomery County, Abbott’s campaign doesn’t see it as a long-term problem. “No chance in hell that they are going to sit this one out,” said Dave Carney, Abbott’s top political adviser. He said the campaign will spend big to spread the message that O’Rourke is a danger to Republican values and Texas as a whole. “We’re going to take the wood to this guy,” Carney said of O’Rourke. The anti-Abbott sentiment was evident in The Woodlands back in January when an influential GOP group called the True Texas Project packed a church for a candidates forum for the primary challengers to Abbott. The leader of the statewide group, Julie McCarty, made clear the mission. “As an organization, we are very firmly, anyone but Abbott,” McCarty said to a roar from a crowd of more than 300 people at Grace Woodlands.