San Antonio Express-News Editorial recommends Abbott in GOP primary but …

We’ve long said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is at his strongest when he governs in an inclusive way that serves all Texans. He’s at his best when he focuses on the issues rather than flaming the culture wars. Assuming Abbott cruises to a win in the upcoming GOP primary and on to a general election challenge from Democrat Beto O’Rourke, perhaps we will see that type of leadership again. Perhaps. In some ways it’s easy to recommend Greg Abbott in this year’s GOP primary. Just look at his main GOP challengers: retired Army Lt. Col. Allen West and businessman Don Huffines, a former state senator. They are firebrands who have castigated Abbott as, somehow, not conservative enough, especially after he issued a statewide mask mandate in July 2020 as COVID-19 was surging across Texas.

The mandate was right at the time — given the lack of vaccines, spread of the disease and how little we knew about COVID. And although we criticized Abbott about reopening the Texas economy too quickly last March, with hindsight, we see a governor who initially responded to the pandemic with a sincere interest in balancing public and economic health. How did he go from that attitude to refusing to allow school districts to make their own choices about mask mandates during another COVID surge? This question gets to the challenge of recommending Abbott: He has bent in response to Huffines and West during this primary. Bring back the governor who modeled inclusive and compassionate leadership in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Let’s see the governor who urged the Legislature to create the bipartisan Texas Commission on Public School Finance in 2017 and helped lead the way to a significant boost in school funding. Let’s see a governor who continues to discuss school finance, commits to improving foster care and ends this senseless posturing on the border. How about not demonizing transgender kids and then alienating the business community? Abbott is easily the best choice in the GOP primary, but this is a reflection of his challengers. He gets our recommendation. But it’s not exactly glowing.