Axios Houston and Axios Dallas chose an odd way to report on Governor DeSantis coming to Texas for a three-day fundraising tour. It compares and contrasts DeSantis and Governor Abbott. There should be no competition here, Abbott isn’t running for president.

There was lots of speculation that Abbott would enter the GOP primary race this cycle but I never believed it. I’ve never seen presidential ambition in the governor, at least not yet. He’s 65-years-old and loves being the Governor of Texas. Not that DeSantis doesn’t love being Governor of Florida, mind you, but DeSantis has a different personality than Abbott. DeSantis is young (44) and eager to catch the brass ring. Both men are good governors and both are conservative Republicans. Also, Casey DeSantis and Cecilia Abbott (the first Hispanic first lady in Texas) are different personalities.

Governor Abbott serves long terms in the positions he achieves. He served as a member of the Texas Supreme Court from 1996 to 2001. He served as attorney general of Texas from 2002 to 2015. Then in 2015 he was elected governor. There are no term limits for how many terms he can serve. Rick Perry holds the record as the longest-serving governor in state history. Abbott succeeded Perry.

The premise of the Texas version of Axios today is that DeSantis has “outshined” Abbott. The outlet is trying to stir the pot where there is no friction. Governor DeSantis has been a friend to Texas and recently sent a generous amount of support in response to Governor Abbott’s request to his fellow governors for help in securing the southern border. Florida is one of nineteen red states that have shown their support. No blue state governors offered any assistance. Abbott has been publicly appreciative of all the governors for their help, including Governor DeSantis. DeSantis was one of the first to respond. It wasn’t his first time to do so.

DeSantis is on a three-day fundraising tour of Texas, with stops in Midland, Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston and Austin. He is in Houston today.

Axios takes some shots at Texas along the way. It states that Texas is considered “the nation’s flagship for conservative policies.” True. But now, according to Axios, it’s not the case anymore.

As the 2024 presidential election nears, DeSantis has emerged as the leading Republican challenger to former President Donald Trump, positioning the Sunshine State as the place “where woke goes to die.”

Both governors are social conservatives and not afraid to speak out about hot button issues. Both states have moved further right under their governorships. That is especially true for Florida which DeSantis has managed to flip from a purple swing state to a solid red state. Axios ticks off a list of both governors’ agendas – “worked to reopen businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, ban abortion, expand access to guns, transport migrants to Democrat-led cities, and limit diversity policies.” No arguments there. It all boil down to personality. It’s a difference in style and rhetoric.

Axios labels Abbott as more cautious, like “the old guard establishment wing of the GOP.”

The biggest difference between them has been style and rhetoric. Abbott eventually signed into law legislation like the state’s “heartbeat bill” and “constitutional carry,” but he didn’t publicly support the bills until it was clear they’d pass in the Texas House and Senate.

Meanwhile: DeSantis recently said that if he’s elected president, he’ll “destroy leftism.”

DeSantis has also publicly battled Disney, one of his state’s largest employers. Abbott hasn’t done anything equivalent in Texas.
What they’re saying: “Abbott’s posture in the culture war is much more akin to the old guard establishment wing of the GOP,” Luke Macias, a conservative political consultant in Texas, told the Texas Tribune earlier this year.

“DeSantis acknowledges the culture war and publicly talks about the need to take on the left.”

I don’t see the point of the comparison. They aren’t competing. If Abbott was running, then it would be completely normal and expected that comparisons would be made. Republicans aren’t cookie-cutter politicians, though, like Democrats are. Republicans govern red states as their residents want them to. Abbott and DeSantis are quite similar but very different than some other Republican governors. Southern Republicans are not the same as Northeast Republicans, for example. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, who was toying with the idea of running, is a little different than Abbott and DeSantis but is still a Republican governor. Sununu is very popular in New Hampshire, just as DeSantis is very popular in Florida and Abbott in Texas. They have all been re-elected.

There is no expectation that every Republican be identical in their philosophies or governing styles. Democrats are the ones who cannot handle individual style. I think it is why Democrats have such a void when it comes to a potential presidential candidate bench. Republicans have an embarrassment of riches in candidates. Some are more populist, some more socially conservative, others more fiscally conservative. They govern according to the needs of their state and their voters. It’s how it should be with states. If you want one-size-fits-all, you turn to the federal government and good luck with that.

Let outside liberals try to stir the pot. Republicans and Independents in Florida and Texas know who they elected. DeSantis is popular in Texas and I look for him to raise a lot of money. He’ll be rewarded by Texas Republicans for the work he has done fundraising for local Republican Parties in important counties like Harris (Houston) and Dallas, where he set all-time records this year.