Researching Greg Abbott

Gregory Wayne Abbott (born November 13, 1957) is an American businessman, politician, attorney, and former jurist serving since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 to 2015 and as a member of the Texas Supreme Court from 1996 to 2001. Abbott was elected governor in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. Abbott is paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair.

Abbott was the third Republican to serve as attorney general of Texas since the Reconstruction era. He was initially elected to that office with 57 percent of the vote in 2002, re-elected with 60 percent in 2006, and 64 percent in 2010, becoming the longest-serving Texas attorney general in state history with 12 years of service. Before assuming the office of attorney general, Abbott was a justice of the Texas Supreme Court, a position to which he was initially appointed in 1995 by then-governor George W. Bush. Abbott won a full term in 1998 with 60 percent of the vote. As attorney general, he successfully advocated for the Texas State Capitol to display the Ten Commandments in the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case Van Orden v. Perry, and unsuccessfully defended the state's ban on same-sex marriage. He was involved in numerous lawsuits against the Barack Obama administration, seeking to invalidate the Affordable Care Act and the administration's environmental regulations.

In July 2013, Abbott declared his candidacy in the 2014 Texas gubernatorial election. He won the Republican primary and subsequently won the general election by 19 points. He is the first governor of Texas and third governor of a U.S. state to use a wheelchair. As governor, Abbott supported the Donald Trump administration and has promoted a conservative agenda—including measures against abortion such as the Texas Heartbeat Act, more lenient gun laws and fewer restrictions, opposition to illegal immigration, support for law enforcement funding, and election reforms to reduce the probability of non-citizens voting and to secure elections. In response to the power crisis following a February 2021 winter storm, Abbott called for reforms to Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and signed a bill requiring power plant weatherization. Abbott's approach to handling the COVID-19 pandemic has been controversial, as he has resisted implementing face mask and vaccine mandates, while blocking local governments, businesses and other organizations from implementing their own. In 2021, Abbott announced that Texas would extend the Trump border wall that was cancelled by the Biden administration.

He played as a right back or midfielder. Abbott was the manager of Carlisle United from December 2008 until September 2013.

Born in Coventry, Abbott started his career with his hometown team Coventry City. He was released without playing a game but recommended to Bradford City, where he won the Division Three title in the 1984–85 season and went on to play more than 300 games. He had spells with Halifax Town and non-league Guiseley before he returned to The Football League with former manager Terry Dolan at Hull City. He spent four seasons with Hull playing another 100 games to take his career total to in excess of 500 first team matches.

After retiring, he went into coaching. He spent a decade at Leeds United coaching a number of junior and reserve sides, before he was appointed assistant manager of Carlisle United in 2006. He spent a brief spell as caretaker manager in 2007. He was given the job full-time in December 2008, after the dismissal of John Ward.