Texas Gov. Greg Abbott embraces role as top Biden antagonist on border

AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott was blunt when asked about President Joe Biden’s performance at the State of the Union address.

“I give it an ‘F’ for failure,” he said Friday in an interview at the governor’s mansion. “There’s a number-one issue in America and that’s securing the border. … It’s an issue on which [Biden] has failed, and he waited 40 minutes to even bring it up” in Thursday's speech, the Texas Republican said.

While recent polls show that the American electorate is increasingly concerned about illegal immigration, Abbott was beating the drum well before that. He’s been a thorn in the side of the Biden administration for years — and has now upped his national profile amid widespread speculation that he’s angling to be former President Donald Trump’s running mate, or perhaps his attorney general if he wins in November.

“My goal is singular — and that is to be the leader of the great state of Texas,” Abbott told NBC News.

Pressed on whether he planned to run for president in 2028, he demurred.

“I am planning on running for re-election as governor in Texas,” he said. “I take one step at a time.”

Abbott is next up for re-election in 2026.

At the moment, he’s defending House Republicans’ decision to kill a bipartisan border security bill — at Trump’s urging — that the president called out during Thursday night’s speech at the Capitol.

“If Joe Biden really believes in compromise,” Abbott said, “he would work with the House chamber.”

Before being elected governor in 2014, Abbott was the longest-serving attorney general in Texas history and was also a justice on the Texas Supreme Court. He was born in Wichita Falls and raised in Duncanville, Texas. Not long after law school, he was paralyzed by a falling tree