DALLAS (WBAP/KLIF News) — Texas Governor Greg Abbott is trying to increase his support among Hispanic voters.
According to the Texas Tribune Abbott has no serious opposition to reelection in 2018. Saturday he addressed the Hispanic Leadership Conference, making a direct appeal for Republican support, saying he fully expects to beat any candidate Democrats put on the ballot.
“What we know is whoever they drum up to run against me, we are going to run against and we’re going to defeat,” Abbott said. “But what I want you to know is that far more important than running this race and running to win this race, we are running to win the next generation.”
Exit polls gave Abbott 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2014. He wants to improve on that in his reelection bid but Democrats think he’ll have trouble because of his support of the new law making sanctuary cities illegal and SB 4, which would punish law enforcement officials who don’t cooperate with federal immigration officers. The Hispanic community, Abbott said, “wants safe communities just like everybody else.”
The governor also encouraged the 250 members of the HLC to run for office saying, “The first Hispanic governor must be a Republican.”
