On Jan. 20, 2015, the day that Gov. Rick Perry steps down after 5,144 days in office, he will note with justifiable pride the state's thriving economy. The so-called Texas Miracle, fueled in large part by an oil and gas boom few could have anticipated in 2000, has created more than 2 million jobs, more by far than any other state.

That's laudable, to be sure, but with a new slate of elected officials coming into office for the first time in several years, it's time to address a number of difficult issues that, left unaddressed, will have a profound effect in the coming decades on the lives of every Texan. They're issues of poverty, health care, education, the environment, water and basic infrastructure needs - matters that require the investment of resources to fulfill the promise of a large, wealthy state that's in the midst of sweeping change.

The election in November should not be about abortion or gay marriage or any of the other hot-button issues that campaigns use to ignite the base. It should be about finding a leader with vision and foresight, one who's willing to tackle tough issues too long ignored. We believe that person is Wendy Davis.

The Republican candidate, Attorney General Greg Abbott, 56, has run a strong campaign, but our fear is that, essentially, he will perpetuate the Perry era, with its fealty to the hard-right social conservative wing of his party.

Broaden focus

His Democratic opponent, we believe, will do everything possible to sustain the state's impressive economic growth, but she also will seek to broaden the state's focus. We're confident she'll work to assure that every Texan has an opportunity to share in the state's prosperity. And, with Republicans still in the majority in the Legislature, she will have no choice but to reach out to the other side in ways that Abbott is less likely to do.

Granted, the woman in the rouge-red Mizuno running shoes, the state senator who drew nationwide attention with her dramatic filibuster of an omnibus anti-abortion bill in 2013, has turned out to be something less than the engaging candidate long-suffering Texas Democrats hoped she would be. Davis, in other words, is not the second coming of Ann Richards. Her campaign got off to a rocky start, and even though she seems to have righted the ship in recent weeks and delivered a winning performance in the second and final televised debate with her opponent, that initial impression lingers. (A shallow "issues" section on her campaign website does little to modify that impression.)

Nonetheless, Davis, 51, is a serious candidate - serious and measured in her public demeanor, serious about the issues. After two terms in the state Senate, preceded by nine years on the Fort Worth City Council, the moderate Democrat understands the issues and can address them cogently. Our hope is that she will govern more effectively than she has campaigned.

Abbott, on the other hand, was elected a dozen years ago to run the state's top law office, which at least partially explains what seems to be an unfamiliarity with the issues. It was not his job to craft a more reasonable tax structure for the state or work on the knotty issues of public education and health care, among a number of concerns that will become increasingly urgent as Texas becomes more populous, more urban, more diverse. Unfortunately, he has wasted time and Texas tax dollars filing ill-considered lawsuits against the federal government, ignoring the fact that Texas prospers when we make the federal government a partner, not an enemy.

Abbott's policy plans, titled "Bicentennial Blueprint," are more detailed than those of Davis, but he represents a Republican Party that's still resistant to solving practical problems, a party held in thrall to a rigid, fiercely anti-government core that's quick to punish any elected official who dares deviate from its right-wing canon. (An unwillingness to pay for our transportation needs is one of numerous examples.) Abbott's "Bicentennial Blueprint" would suggest that he knows what needs to be done - on highway funding and on education, for example - but it's hard to imagine him wandering very far off the one true path.

Future investment

A Gov. Davis, we believe, will attempt to invest in the future of this state. That investment would take a variety of forms, from universal pre-kindergarten to adequately funded public schools and public universities that aspire to be the best in the country; from addressing the economic effects of climate change, particularly diminishing water supplies, to protecting an environment increasingly stressed by a rapidly growing population.

Her appointments, we believe, would reflect not only the rich diversity of this state but also would include watchdogs, not lap dogs, over such vital state agencies as the Department of Insurance, whose current commissioner has regularly taken industry's side over the consumer. And, in the same way she twice resorted to a filibuster in an effort to block bad legislation, she would use the governor's veto pen to protect the interests of her fellow Texans.

We would expect a Gov. Davis to push for a higher minimum wage and a reformed tax system that brings a greater degree of fairness to individuals and small businesses. (Texas, by the way, is a low-tax state only for those at the top.) In a state where grinding poverty is far too pervasive, we believe she would develop policies designed to forge a viable middle class out of a society that's becoming majority Hispanic. She'll work with the Obama administration to expand Medicaid, so that Texas doesn't continue to lead the nation in the number of uninsured.

Falling short

That distinction is a dismal reminder that this big, booming state falls far short in too many categories. We have the highest percentage of uninsured children in the nation, the fourth-highest percentage of people living below the poverty level, the second-highest percentage of people going hungry. We are last in the percentage of residents with a high school diploma. We have the nation's dirtiest air. The list could go on.

If we can't find leaders willing to engage the hard issues, willing to invest in the state's future, we're likely to fall farther behind. Given this prosperous moment in our state's history, what better time than now to begin living up to our potential? Davis, we believe, will give it a shot.

Whether a Gov. Wendy Davis could get anything done in a state still dominated by a Republican Party fiercely fighting a rear-guard action against social, economic and political change is a question we can't answer. As a Democrat in this fervid-red state, she faces an uphill battle, to be sure. And yet, there are pivotal moments in political history where the focus shifts and the people decide that enough's enough. As a senator, Wendy Davis had the courage and strength on more than one occasion not to back down. With challenging times ahead, those same qualities are what we need to lead the state.