Transcription may not be exact.
MARK WIGGINS: We begin with attorney general Greg Abbott. It’s Friday night in Texas, and the man the Republican Party hopes will be the state’s next governor is, like many Texans, getting ready for the game.
FRIEND: It’s good to see you.
ATTORNEY GENERAL GREG ABBOTT: Good to see you too. You got your whole family out here? Where are they at?
FRIEND: He’s right here.
WIGGINS: It’s a brief break from the busy campaign that began on a hot July afternoon in San Antonio.
COMMERCIAL SOUND BITE: Greg Abbott’s family grew, so did his career.
WIGGINS: The chosen date for the official kickoff, July 14th, 2013, marked exactly 29 years since the day Abbott’s life changed forever.
GENERAL ABBOTT ANNOUNCEMENT SPEECH SOUND BITE: On a steamy summer day almost identical to this, I went out for a jog.
WIGGINS: Born in Wichita Falls and raised in Longview and later Duncanville, he played football and baseball when he was young. He would excel on the track and finish his senior season nearly undefeated. While studying as an undergrad at The University of Texas, he met his wife, the product of Hispanic parents living in San Antonio. They met in 1982, but in the summer of 1984 at the age of 26 came disaster.
GENERAL ABBOTT: I had just graduated from law school. I moved with my wife of only two years at the time to Houston, Texas to take a job and pursue our dreams. I was out jogging one day when a big huge oak tree crashed down on my back, fractured my vertebra to my spinal cord, leaving me immediately and permanently paralyzed and I would never walk again.
WIGGINS: In the surgeries that followed, doctors inserted steel rods in Abbott’s back. During the long recovery, Cecilia never left his side.
GENERAL ABBOTT: My wife’s was a great support team all by herself. Her family, friends, the whole community coming together, of course faith in God, and I realized what a lot of Texans realize, and that is what we’re challenged from time to time, but we all have that ability to work together as a team and rise above those challenges.
WIGGINS: Abbott soon went back to work. He sued the homeowner and tree care company, getting a settlement close to $10 million. He would later champion tort reform, making lawsuits more difficult, arguing that it wouldn’t have affected cases like his. The political bug hit in the early 1990’s.
GENERAL ABBOTT: When I was a lawyer in Houston, I went to the court and was dissatisfied with the way judges were dispensing justice. I knew I could do a better job, that a better job was needed. So I was inspired to do a better job and ran for office myself and got elected to judge and the rest is history.
WIGGINS: His rise was quick. Governor George W. Bush appointed him to the supreme court in 1995. The next major milestone happened two years later with the adoption of his only child Audrey.
GENERAL ABBOTT: When she was just a child, I had a greater appreciation for the challenges that parents go through in raising children. As they became a teen, I saw the challenges that teens have in dealing with threats and dangers in their world. And so a lot of what I’ve actually done both as attorney general and now preparing to be governor looks through the eyes of our youth. And looks towards keeping them safe, but also paving a pathway for a brighter future for them. It looks pretty good, dangerously good, those desserts.
AUDREY ABBOTT: Are you going to get them?
GENERAL ABBOTT: No.
WIGGINS: Daughter introduced father at his campaign announcement in July 2013.
AUDREY ABBOTT SOUND BITE: He dresses up on Halloween in some outrageous outfits, like an army tank or a grocery chart. He takes me hunting, takes me to movies and we’ve gone to countless concerts together. I love my dad, but maybe more importantly, I admire him.
WIGGINS: Elected attorney general in 2002, Abbott’s defining victory would come in 2005, successfully defending a monument of the 10 Commandments on the grounds of the Texas Capitol before the U.S. Supreme Court.
GENERAL ABBOTT SOUND BITE: It is an historical recognition of the role that these commandments have played in the development of our laws.
WIGGINS: Now the longest serving attorney general in Texas history, almost 12 years, Abbott has filed dozens of lawsuits against the federal government, challenging everything from the president’s health care law to the voting rights act.
GENERAL ABBOTT SOUND BITE: We believe that the rise of the connection between the Hispanic community and the Republican Party in the state of Texas is directly at fault.
WIGGINS: He’s not been slowed down by the accident that nearly took his life.
GENERAL ABBOTT: For one, being in a wheelchair gives me an appreciation of the challenges that other people face. And it gives me an understanding and a need to ensure that we have an environment where everyone has opportunity, everyone has a chance. But also it’s the kind of thing that allows me to be a role model for others. I can’t tell you the number of people who just on the campaign have come up to me and said that they are inspired and they work harder in life because they know that they see me working as hard as I do, traveling as much as I do, doing all that I do, from a wheelchair, they know that they need to get up and work harder, be stronger themselves every single day.
GENERAL ABBOTT SOUND BITE: You know too often you hear politicians get up and talk about having a spine of steel. I actually have one! and I will use my steel spine to fight for you and protect families every single day.
WIGGINS: Like the players on the field, Abbott has no shortage of targets he hopes to tackle if elected governor.
GENERAL ABBOTT: We face several battles. The battle we face is continuing to fight back against an overreaching federal government that’s tapping too much of our money, too much of our inspiration, aspiration and freedom. Another battle that we face going forward is making sure that we create better schools for kids like we have right here tonight. We want to make sure Texas continues to lead their way in creating jobs. Often times the first stop do that is the step through a schoolhouse door.
WIGGINS: Surrounded by family and friends, we asked Abbott whether there was a parallel between his life and the Friday night field of battle.
GENERAL ABBOTT: The way the eventual ending score will be determined is by those that overcome the challenges they face and define the outcome of that game. The same has been true in my life. I faced challenges that literally knocked me down, but I got right back up, kept on going, and my life will be defined by the way that I’ve risen above these challenges.
WIGGINS: And he says the race for governor is much the same.
GENERAL ABBOTT: What you do in a campaign is the same thing that teams are supposed to do in a football game. You play every play hard, you work to gain first downs and you don’t look to the score until the final whistle is blown.