Calm Center Of Greg Abbott’s Campaign For Texas Governor Is His Mexican-American Wife, Cecilia
By Claire Ballor
Fox News Latino
During the Texas gubernatorial campaign this year, she’s been called a prop, an asset and outreach personified. Through it all, Cecilia Phalen Abbott, the wife of Texas District Attorney and Republican candidate for governor, Greg Abbott, has remained unruffled, a calm and steady presence at her husband’s side.
And Cecilia, a San Antonio native and granddaughter of Mexican immigrants, could make history in the process by becoming the first Latina first lady in Texas history should her husband win.
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As Greg Abbott has said in campaign appearances, referring to both the state and his marriage: “Dos casas, pero una fundación.” Two houses, one foundation.
Cecilia Abbott has found many ways to represent and listen to the voices of her community. A devout Roman Catholic, she played a key part in her husband’s conversion to that faith.
And after Greg was paralyzed when a tree fell on him in 1984, family friend Kent Sullivan, told the Texas Tribune, “[Cecilia] was instrumental in supporting him in every way imaginable after the accident. She was a pillar of strength for him. It sounds like a cliché, but it really is true.”
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Today, Cecilia is an integral part of Greg’s campaign and an active participant in reaching out to voters, specifically women and Latino voters.
“I was happiest behind the scenes and I still am, as you can tell,” she told one group in March of this year. “I was so shy and I would practically hide from voters working up the courage to ask them a simple question – ‘you wouldn’t want to vote for my husband, would you?’”
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The Abbotts continue to make the effort to reach out to the Latino population in Texas. Greg Abbott has signaled his commitment by saying, “I am taking my campaign to heavily Hispanic populated areas explaining how I will grow jobs, improve school and keep communities safe.”
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