Abbott knows better than anyone that this is usually not the case. As governor, he has participated in Republican primary elections down to the state house level in an attempt to knock out lawmakers who have scorned him. And so it is significant that an official like Paxton will not undertake to support Abbott even against a hypothetical challenger. Indeed, the mounting turmoil of the virus, the elections and the storm has resulted in some Texas Republicans ruling that the 2022 gubernatorial primary is a critical point in the fight for the party’s future. The primary speculation was so widespread that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, with whom Abbott has suffered intermittent friction, recently felt compelled to take himself out of the running. According to a reporter for the Texas Tribune, at a recent dinner for the young Republicans in Texas, the lieutenant governor emphasized his “hope” that no one would make Abbott the main character “because he did a hell of a job and we have to re-elect him.”
However, Sid Miller – Sid Miller would respectfully disagree.
On the morning of March 11th Sidney Carroll Miller, Texas Agriculture Commissioner, rode a horse named Big Smokin Hawk at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Big Smokin Hawk, known outside the show ring as Mini Pearl, is a sorrel mare with the letters S, I and D branded on her left hindquarter. It was day 9 of the rodeo, which is full of attractions and performances in normal times – in 2019, Cardi B, dressed in a cowgirl outfit with pink and blue sequins, pulled a record of more than 75,000 people – but in this one Year it was reduced significantly. As always, Miller had taken his horses to competition four and a half hours from his farm in Erath County.
Miller is a 65-year-old lifelong rancher and Republican who served 12 years at Texas House before successfully running for Ag Commissioner, whose campaign was co-led by a Ted Nugent. Some of the highlights of his tenure since then include charges of using government funds to travel to a Mississippi rodeo (fined $ 500 by the Texas Ethics Commission); Repeal the ban on deep fryers and vending machines in public schools; Posting a picture on his Facebook page advocating the destruction of the “Muslim world” (his spokesperson at the time blamed an unnamed employee for the post, but made it clear that he would not apologize for it and actually got the message “thought-provoking” found). ); and as part of a 2018 Facebook post convicting ABC of canceling the sitcom “Roseanne,” a doctoral photo of Whoopi Goldberg in a shirt that featured Donald Trump in the head. (Narrator: “We publish hundreds of things a week. We publish things. We are like Fox News. We report, we let people decide.”)
Donald Trump happened to be very fond of Sid Miller. He first appeared to notice him when Miller was on an advisory board for Trump campaigns in 2016 and his account posted a tweet called Hillary Clinton, referred to as the “C-word.” Then it was quickly deleted and replaced with a claim that the account had been hacked. (Miller later said through a spokesman that his staff “accidentally retweeted a tweet” but ended up apologizing.) Shortly afterwards, at a rally in Tampa, while discussing the strength of his campaign in Texas, Trump checked Miller and his ” big “beautiful white cowboy hat. “Miller later interviewed Trump’s first Secretary of Agriculture, though the position ultimately went to Sonny Perdue. When fellow activists recently began to hover Miller as Abbott’s challenger, the idea didn’t seem entirely ridiculous.
“You know,” he said less than five minutes after our interview, “if I were governor. … “We were sitting in a room outside the arena with Miller’s 40-year-old wife Debra. Miller was still wearing his spurs and cowboy hat. “I think the governor has some problems,” Miller continued. He had participated in the protest in front of the governor’s villa in October. In his view, the latest move to lift all pandemic-related restrictions was marginal. “I mean, I haven’t seen anything upscale. I have to wear my damn mask here in Houston, you know, everywhere I go. “(When I asked if a private company might need a mask if they so wanted, Debra looked at her husband and nodded.” You can, you can, yes, “Miller said.)
I noticed that although a vocal subset of Republicans were disappointed with Abbott, he and Trump seemed to get along well (“my best man, best governor,” as Trump once called him). But Miller refused. “Abbott wasn’t his biggest fan,” he claimed. “I would say they tolerated each other. They weren’t – they weren’t enemies. ”
Miller said he hasn’t made a final decision about running yet. However, he would say that he has received a lot of encouragement to do this from others. “I was stopped here by five people and this is not even a political event. I just pulled myself off the side and said we really appreciate what you are doing and we hope you run for governor and stay there. And something is building up out there. People are not happy … ”He turned to Debra, who had only nudged him softly. “You go to several events. … “, she offered quietly. “Oh yeah,” he said, turning back to me. “When I go to events, the response we get at Republican events has been overwhelming.”
