ABILENE, TX – Abbott graduated from The University of Texas at Austin and later earned a law degree from Vanderbilt Law School in Tennessee.
The Republican was later elected Attorney General of Texas and served in that position from 2002 to 2015.
He filed 31 lawsuits against President Barack Obama during his AG tenure.
“I go into the office in the morning. I sue Barack Obama, and then I go home,” he has cracked.
He would later become the 48th governor of Texas.
Abbott and his wife Cecilia, a former teacher and principal, were married in 1981.
Why is he in a wheelchair?
Abbott was 26 and a recent law school graduate in the summer of 1984 when he was injured in a freak accident while jogging.
A large oak tree cracked and fell on his back, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
Two steel rods were inserted near his spine, and they will remain for the rest of his life.
“During his harrowing recovery process, Governor Abbott was reminded of lessons he’d learned all his life, especially the lesson of perseverance,” reads a description on the governor’s website.
“While some politicians talk about having a spine of steel, Governor Abbott actually has one.
“He’ll use his steel spine to fight for you and for every Texas family.”
Who is Abbott married to?
Cecilia Abbott is the first Hispanic First Lady of Texas.
“Cecilia Abbott’s story reminds us all that the American Dream is alive and well in Texas,” reads her bio.
The granddaughter of immigrants from Mexico, she was raised in San Antonio by parents who were both educators.
She has served as a teacher, vice-principal and principal at several schools in Texas.
The Abbotts have been married for four decades.
They have a daughter together, Audrey, who is a recent college graduate.
Did he lift the mask ban in Texas?
Texas and Mississippi separately declared they would lift statewide mask mandates and give businesses the green light to open at full capacity in March.
Abbott said in a statement that his state’s executive order will come into effect on March 10.
Abbott added: “We must now do more to restore livelihoods and normalcy for Texans by opening Texas 100 percent.
“Make no mistake, COVID-19 has not disappeared, but it is clear from the recoveries, vaccinations, reduced hospitalizations, and safe practices that Texans are using that state mandates are no longer needed.”
Abbott has previously faced sharp criticism from his own party over Texas’ mandate, which was imposed eight months ago but only lightly enforced during the worst periods of the pandemic.
How has Abbot responded to the Texas crisis?
Governor Abbott was been largely out of sight throughout Texas’ full-blown crisis.
Over a third of Texans still remained without running water and power almost two weeks after a deadly winter storm plummeted Texas under snow, as the state experienced freezing temperatures.
Some families were burning furniture to stay warm, grocery stores were emptying, and people were dying.
In the freezing darkness, many desperate Texans felt they were left to fend for themselves.
Abbott went on Fox News and spoke about how “the Green New Deal would be deadly” in an interview with Sean Hannity.
“This shows how the Green New Deal would be a deadly deal for the United States of America,” Abbott said falsely blaming his state’s problems on environmental policies pushed by liberals.
Critics have blasted Abbott and his administration saying they failed to take the winter storm’s serious, and failed to issue sufficient emergency warnings.
Meteorologists gave Texans ample warning of a serious storm that could bring record cold, cause power demand to spike and threaten electrical infrastructure more than a week in advance.
Critics have accused Texas Republicans of neglecting winterization upgrades recommended to the electrical grid more than a decade ago.
