Ask the Expert: Second in a series
Each state has a governor, but not all governors are equal. The Texas governor typically ranks around 44th in power, according to Clyde Barrow, a professor and chair of UTRGVโs Department of Political Science.
The office has little influence over the state budget, and since Texas utilizes a plural executive, many offices, which would be appointed in other states, are elected in ours. These factors diminish the governorโs power. Despite this, the office of governor can be influential within Texas.
โReally, his main source of influence is the fact that heโs governor, and he gets a lot of press coverage, and so he can try to use that press coverage to set the agenda and to influence others,โ Barrow said.
Incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Democratic challenger Beto OโRourke seem to have different approaches to the news media.
โBeto OโRourke is very good at using social media,โ said Carlos Gutierrez, a lecturer in UTRGVโs Department of Political Science. โHe has a whole campaign in which he travels from city to city and town to town, but heโs also very good at using social media, which bridges very well with young voters. โฆ Heโs also stepping up his spending with TV ads, because he also wants to capture that older generation thatโs not maybe on social media but they are watching TV.
โOn the other side, Abbott is not as good [at] using social media. He is trying to target possibly older voters. โฆ Both of them have been spending millions in TV ads this last election.โ
Barrow and Gutierrez said another way for a governor to gain influence is as a party builder, since most governors are at the head of their parties within their states. A successful governor may eventually have a state legislature that will support his or her policies and laws. Governors serving long enough may also be able to cut deals with those across the party line.
โThe longer a governor is in power, the longer he is able to foster relations with different members of the legislature,โ Gutierrez said. โHeโs able to bridge the divide.โ
This is important, because both parties require votes from each other in order to pass legislation. In this sense, the governor can be what Gutierrez calls โa power broker.โ
If OโRourke were to defeat Abbott, who is on his second term, he would have to be careful not to alienate potential allies in both parties, since he is not as established.
There are other ways for Texas governors to exert influence.
Barrow said there is a line-item veto, which allows the governor to โgo through the budget and take things outโ without rejecting the whole budget. This gives the governor the ability to put pressure on individual politicians.
Although outside line-item veto, the governorโs budget authority is minimal. Neither Abbott nor OโRourke would have much ability to change the budget.
However, using the power of the governorโs office, they can still strive to serve the people.
Josue Valeriano, a freshman nursing major at UTRGV, said โI want [a governor] to focus on integrity and actually getting things doneโnot just parading around.โ
