BARTONVILLE — Hundreds of people gathered Saturday morning at Marty B's to hear Gov. Greg Abbott urge Denton County voters to reelect their Texas House representatives during a Republican rally to get out the vote.
This included state Reps. Ben Bumgarner of District 63, Lynn Stucky of District 64, Kronda Thimesch of District 65 and Jared Patterson of District 106, who all spoke during Saturday's event and are seeking reelection.
Abbott also endorsed Texas Senate District 30 candidate Brent Hagenbuch, who did not speak during the event.
Carrie de Moor, who's also seeking the Republican nomination for Senate District 30, has challenged Hagenbuch’s eligibility to run for the seat due to allegations that he lives outside the district. The issue will go to trial after Judge Lee Gabriel ruled against Hagenbuch’s attempt to dismiss the suit while allowing him to remain on the ballot.
At Saturday’s rally, Abbott said the four House lawmakers have been instrumental with conservative issues in Denton County during this past year's legislative session and have fought against the “woke” agenda.
“We got a war on our hands against the Biden administration,” Abbott told the crowd. “We're fighting this battle against wokeism. We're fighting a battle against the leftist ideology that has tried to even take over the great state of Texas. We cannot take for granted the values that you hold so dear. And that's why elections and your participation in those elections are so incredibly important. This war is not going to be won just by showing up and listening to speeches. The war is won at the ballot box.”
Border security has been a back-and-forth issue between Abbott and the Biden administration. Texas has transported over 100,000 migrants into other states, according to a post from Abbott on X, formerly known as Twitter, in January.
Abbott told the crowd the U.S. had the lowest number of illegal border crossings in 45 years due to former President Donald Trump.
“Joe Biden comes in, and he issues executive orders that eliminate all of [our] more effective policies,” Abbott said. “And it leads to an input now for more than 8 million illegal immigrants crossing our border. And I'm talking about people who are not coming here to work in agricultural fields, and I'm talking about people who were wanted for murder before they crossed the border. I'm talking about people who came across the border illegally and committed murder in the state of Texas. I'm talking about people who were wanted on the terrorist watch lists.”
Also during the rally, Abbott criticized the Hebron High School educator placed on administrative leave in Lewisville ISD after a TikTok post showed him wearing a pink dress with matching boots and a hat.
According to The Dallas Morning News, students have defended the teacher with a petition noting he was dressed up for spirit day.
Abbott said if Stucky, Bumgarner and Thimesch go back to Austin, they will make sure that no school district will be indoctrinating kids.
“Standard Texas law forces you as a parent to send your child to that school, and that is wrong,” Abbott said. “I believe every parent in the state of Texas has the God-given right to choose the school that’s best for their child.”
Early voting continues through Friday, March 1. Election day is Tuesday, March 5.