Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas – Gov. Rick Perry will not seek reelection, he announced to about 200 supporters and the media in a humid warehouse at the country’s largest Caterpillar dealership Monday afternoon.
“I will spend the next 18 months working to create more jobs,” he said. “I make this announcement with a deep sense of humility and deep appreciation, and knowing I will truly miss serving in this capacity, because it is the greatest job in modern politics.”
Texas Governor Rick Perry, the nation’s longest-serving governor and a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, had planned to announce Monday whether he will seek re-election next year.
Asked on “Fox News Sunday” whether a presidential run is in the cards, Perry said: “Well, certainly, that’s an option out there, but, again, we got a lot of work to do in this building right behind me over the course of the next couple of weeks that have my focus substantially more than even 2014 or 2016.”
The timing of his announcement comes shortly after he rehired his former presidential campaign communications director Mark Miner, and as Perry is locked in a heated battle with Texas Democrats over restrictions on abortion.
“In Texas, the road to the governor’s office goes straight through the Republican primary electorate,” said Mark P. Jones, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston. “Right now, Perry retains very strong support among Republican primary voters.”
Perry took office in December 2000 after then-Texas Governor George W. Bush was declared winner of the disputed presidential election over Democrat Al Gore. Perry was elected to a full term in 2002, and re-elected 2006 and 2010.
Perry is by far the longest serving governor in Texas history, and a recent poll by the Democratic-leaning PPP polling group indicated that 60 percent of Texans don’t want him to run for governor again.
A poll by Rasmussen Reports last week showed Perry running sixth among Texas Republicans for president in 2016. The leader among Texas Republicans is Ted Cruz, Texas’ junior U.S. senator.
Perry brushed aside those concerns on “Fox News Sunday.”
“You know, polls are polls. As a matter of fact, I think it was four years ago that showed us 25 points down to a sitting U.S. senator,” Perry said.
Perry defeated Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who was considered the most popular politician in Texas, by 22 points to win the Republican primary in the 2010 governor’s race.
Perry also is embroiled in a battle over abortion restrictions that made State Senator Wendy Davis a national figure and likely Democratic candidate for governor in 2014.
