Weeks before he officially announced his presidential bid, Mr. Perry said it was appropriate for the Texas Department of Public Safety to pay for his security and called any criticism of his government-provided protection a “diversion.” He also said that Texans would benefit from his travels. “I’m going to be promoting Texas,” Mr. Perry said in July, as he began to traverse the country. “I’m going to be traveling to places where the Texas story needs to be told, and we will tell it.”

State Representative Jessica Farrar of Houston, leader of the House Democrats, said Mr. Perry’s travels have been more of a black eye for Texas than a benefit. She said the governor deserves to have state-provided security, but said he should use some of the $17 million he has reported raising for his campaign to help defray the costs.

“If he’s promoting Texas, he’s been an embarrassment,” Ms. Farrar said. “He could have paid for this out of campaign funds, especially given that he’s asked the Texas taxpayers to tighten their belts.”

Mr. Perry is not the only Texas governor to run up big bills — and receive criticism — for security provided on out-of-state trips. When George W. Bush was governor and ran for president in 2000, the state spent at least $400,000 a month in the first quarter of that year — more than four times the amount spent in all of 1999, the public safety department revealed at the time.

All told, taxpayers were on the hook for $3.9 million in security costs for Mr. Bush and his family from January 1999 to March 2000, when the Secret Service took over the job, the public safety department said.