At least one Texan has run in every U.S. presidential race since 1972, but 2024 may well break that 50-year streak, The Associated Press reports. President Biden hasn't decided if he is running for re-election, but the Republican race is wide open and the field may not be until shortly before the first GOP presidential debate in August. But so far, none of the likely Texas GOP candidates — Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. Ted Cruz, and former Rep. Will Hurd — seem prepared to throw their hats in the ring.
Abbott will decide about running after the state Legislature adjourns in May, and he can "look at what the state of the race is, and does he have something that would be differentiating to the race that would be attractive to voters," Dave Carney, a chief strategist to Abbott and his predecessor Rick Perry, told AP. "Clearly, there's some constitutional amendment that voters supported back in the day that says, 'If you're a governor of Texas, you must consider running for president,'" he joked. "And many of them have. For good or bad."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Three Texans have actually won — Lyndon B. Johnson (1964), George H.W. Bush (1988), and George W. Bush (2000, 2004). But many have run.
"Since the modern era of presidential campaigning began in 1972, Texans have been involved in more cycles than any other state," AP reports, citing Eric Ostermeier at the University of Minnesota. But California has fielded more candidates in that time — 19 to Texas and New York's 15 candidates. You can read more clever Texas-related presidential trivia at The Associated Press.
-
Who is fuelling the flames of antisemitism in Australia?Today’s Big Question Deadly Bondi Beach attack the result of ‘permissive environment’ where warning signs were ‘too often left unchecked’
-
Bulgaria is the latest government to fall amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Sudoku hard: December 15, 2025The daily hard sudoku puzzle from The Week
-
Senate votes down ACA subsidies, GOP alternativeSpeed Read The Senate rejected the extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits, guaranteeing a steep rise in health care costs for millions of Americans
-
Abrego García freed from jail on judge’s orderSpeed Read The wrongfully deported man has been released from an ICE detention center
-
Indiana Senate rejects Trump’s gerrymander pushSpeed Read The proposed gerrymander would have likely flipped the state’s two Democratic-held US House seats
-
Democrat files to impeach RFK Jr.Speed Read Rep. Haley Stevens filed articles of impeachment against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
-
Judge orders release of Ghislaine Maxwell recordsSpeed Read The grand jury records from the 2019 prosecution of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will be made public
-
Miami elects first Democratic mayor in 28 yearsSpeed Read Eileen Higgins, Miami’s first woman mayor, focused on affordability and Trump’s immigration crackdown in her campaign
