Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he won't run again

Catalina Camia and Rick Jervis | USA TODAY

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Monday that he will not seek re-election next year, bringing an end to his record-setting tenure as chief executive of the Lone Star state.

"The time has come to pass on the mantle of leadership," Perry, a Republican, said at a news conference in San Antonio surrounded by hundreds of supporters.

Perry's departure sets up the biggest political shuffle in Texas since 1990, the last time there was an open race for governor.

Perry, 63, is already the longest-serving governor in Texas history and has been the state's chief executive since December 2000, when George W. Bush left to become president.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a rising Republican Party star, has been making moves as though he will seek the governorship next year. Abbott praised Perry for keeping "Washington in check, working to block an intrusive federal government from meddling in our personal lives and preventing the heavy-hand of government from stifling small businesses in Texas."

Abbott, however, made no mention of his political future. Tom Pauken, Perry's onetime appointee to the Texas Workforce Commission, is already seeking the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

It's unclear who might run on the Democratic side. State Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth, who rose to national prominence with her recent filibuster of an abortion bill, has said she'll take a "second look" at the 2014 race.

Perry left open the possibility that he would try again and run for the White House, saying any "future considerations" will be announced "in due time and I will arrive at that decision appropriately." He recently rehired Mark Miner, a longtime aide who was one of the advisers behind his 2012 presidential bid.

The governor touted a long list of achievements, including the creation of 1.6 million new jobs and his signature on seven balanced state budgets. He has been known to push back on regulations from Washington, and has been a vocal critic of President Obama's national health care law.

James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, said Perry's tenure will be remembered as the era when conservatives locked up power across the state. Texas hasn't elected a Democrat to a statewide office since 1994.

"We're going to look at Rick Perry as the person who presided over consolidated rule of Republicans in Texas," Henson said.

Perry said he is focused on "actively" serving out the next 18 months as governor and will work "to create more jobs, opportunity and innovation." He is also paying close attention to a special session of the Texas Legislature that is going on now. Lawmakers are considering a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy that would also close most of the state's abortion clinics, which Perry vowed would pass.

For much of the nation, however, Perry is known for his ill-fated White House bid last year. Once considered a top conservative alternative to eventual Republican nominee Mitt Romney, Perry briefly was leading in early public opinion polls but faltered quickly.

His "oops" moment during a televised debate, in which he forgot the name of the third federal agency he wanted to eliminate, solidified for many that Perry wasn't ready for the White House. The Texan dropped out of the 2012 race ahead of the South Carolina primary.

Perry had poked fun at his own debate gaffe on late-night TV and mocked his own candidacy during a speech last year. "The weakest Republican field in history — and they kicked my butt," Perry joked at the Gridiron Club dinner.

Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said another presidential bid by Perry would require him to be better prepared than he was in 2012.

"If he plans to run for president again, he needs to be free of the governor's office so he can give his full attention to putting together a top-flight campaign team and prepare himself substantively, especially on foreign policy and national security issues," Jillson said.

Before Perry's announcement, some polls suggested the governor was slumping in popularity among Texas voters and not even the favorite among Texans considering the White House. Republican voters in Texas said they would favor home-state Sen. Ted Cruz, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio ahead of Perry in a Republican primary, according to a University of Texas at Austin/Texas Tribune poll released last month.

Cruz garnered 25% of the GOP support in the poll, compared with 10% for Perry, who came in fourth.

Despite some voter fatigue over Perry, political observers said it will be hard for Texas Democrats to unravel the two-decade dominance of Republicans. "The Democrats' problems in Texas are much bigger than Rick Perry," Henson said.

Chris Turner, president and CEO of Stampede Consulting, an Austin-based GOP consulting firm that has worked with Perry in the past, gives Davis little chance of winning statewide.

"She's still a liberal Democrat and this is still Texas," Turner said. "This state is still going to deliver strong double-digit wins for Republicans."

Perry's announcement came at a Caterpillar dealership owned by Peter Holt, one of his top financial supporters and the chairman and CEO of the San Antonio Spurs.

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