Texas Governor Greg Abbott delivers the keynote address during the Smith County Republican Party Lincoln Reagan Dinner Tuesday, February 15, 2022, at the Villa. (Les Hassell/News-Journal Photo)

Gov. Greg Abbott visited Tyler on Tuesday evening to remind voters “of all that we’ve done to make Texas such a great state — we’re reminding the crowd exactly why Republicans are going to win in 2022.”

About 200 people gathered to hear Abbott give the keynote address at the Smith County Republican Party Lincoln Reagan Dinner at The Villa.

Abbott faces seven challengers in the March 1 Republican primary, including former state Sen. Don Huffines and former state GOP Chair Allen West.

“We’re going to show voters the contrast between the values … Republicans stand for versus the values the Democrats stand for,” Abbott said.

He said while growing up in Longview, Democrats “used to be Democrats. They have progressed to be socialists today.”

“If you look at how grand and great the state of Texas is, we are not going to let a bunch of radical leftist socialists take over and destroy our state,” he said.

Abbott said each year he’s been governor, Texas has ranked No. 1 in the nation as the best state for doing business.

Texas works with large and small businesses, he said. In fact, the state also ranks as the No. 1 place in the nation to start a small business and is the ninth-largest economy in the world, Abbott added.

He said the proposed Green New Deal, which targets climate change through more renewable energy, would ruin the Texas economy.

The energy sector employs more than 1 million people in the state, and Abbott said he intends to “ensure that we protect those high-paying jobs right here in the state of Texas.”

When it comes to energy, Abbott also said the Texas power grid has “never been better.” He said he signed 14 new laws that increase power generator capacity, winterized the grid and made sure it would not shut down like what happened during the winter storm of 2021.

As far as public education, Abbott said the “radical left agenda” is trying to use education to change the state.

He said teaching Critical Race Theory, which the Legislature has banned in Texas, “tries to rewrite the history of the greatest country in the history of the world and redesigns its future. Also, it divides people on the basis of race and then pits those people against each other on the basis of race.”

“Texas now has the strongest ban on the teaching of Critical Race Theory in public schools … in the United States of America.”

Abbott said he is seeking reelection to bring power back to parents and show they matter in Texas. He said he wants to restore parents as the primary decision makers of their children’s health care and education.

{h2 dir=”ltr”}Texas border{/h2}

Abbott described the Biden administration’s open border policy as “reckless.”

“The Biden administration inherited the most safest, secure border that’s existed in my adult lifetime,” he said.

Despite this, President Joe Biden sent a message to other countries that “it doesn’t matter what country you come from — you can come into the United States illegally if you just cross the southern border.”

Texas provided more than $3 million of taxpayer money to protect the border, Abbott said. More than 10,000 National Guard members are on the border, and more than 1,000 Texas Department of Public Safety troopers are making arrests, he said.

Abbott said he intends to continue building the border wall “until we elect a new president who will step up and do the president’s job of securing the United States of America.”

{h2 dir=”ltr”}First and Second Amendments {/h2}

During this years election, “freedom itself is on the ballot,” Abbott said.

Laws have been passed in Texas to protect the First Amendment, Abbott said, meaning no government official can shut down churches and prevent people from worshiping.

Abbott said he also signed recent laws “protecting your right to keep and bear arms in the state of Texas.”

These laws include making Texas a constitutional carry state and a sanctuary state for the Second Amendment, he said.

{h2 dir=”ltr”}Defunding the police{/h2}

“In Texas we don’t defund the police,” Abbott said. “We support our law enforcement officers.”

He referred to Austin as the one city in Texas that defunded its police department by more than $100 million. In response, the Legislature passed a law that would defund any city in that defunded the police, he said.

“The people in this room are patriotic Americans,” Abbott told the crowd Tuesday. “I can tell by the people in this room you love the United States of America — you believe in America and know it’s the greatest country in the history of the entire world.”

Early voting for the March 1 primary began Monday and ends Feb. 25.