Photo: Brandon Bell
Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and other top statewide officials are all in their third terms. So, how much longer will they be able to stay in those positions?
According to Political Consultant Bill Miller, it will be a while before they decide to leave those positions on their own. He said, "Trading that for something else is almost trading down. So far, it looks to me like they've decided to stay put."
Miller says that doesn't mean top officials like Abbott and Patrick won't face opposition the next time their seats are up. He said that, "There are a number of people in the senate who would like to be Lt. Governor. You can name almost all the Republicans in the senate, and they'd say, 'Yeah, I'd like to be on that list.'"
And while some might point to Abbott approaching former Governor Rick Perry's record as longest serving governor as evidence that we need term limits here in Texas, Miller sees things differently. He says, "The term limits argument, like for instance, as applied to these individuals, is just about someone else wanting the job, not about them doing a bad job."
He says that anyone who wants to unseat any long-standing political figure should make their move without term limits and win the seat on their own merit.
In the case of the Attorney General's office, Miller says Paxton's expected push to unseat Senator John Cornyn, who has fallen out of favor with the conservative base of the Texas GOP, will likely lead to someone else filling the Attorney General's seat.