In a very unsurprising development, the governor of the great state of Texas, Greg Abbott, over the weekend endorsed former president Donald Trump for the nomination to be the party's standard bearer against whoever the Democrats put up in 2024. Rumor around the Washington, DC political water cooler is that there's an increasing chance that it might not be Joe Biden for the Democrats — and who can blame the Democrats for wanting to ditch Sleepy Joe? Clearly, Abbott feels Trump is the best to handle whoever it may be.

2024 POTUS Update: Texas Governor Greg Abbott Endorses Trump for President

From my colleague Ward Clarks' article:

On Sunday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott made it official, endorsing former President Donald Trump for another term. The Governor made the initial announcement on X (formerly Twitter).

The announcement comes as Trump met with the Texas governor in Edinburg, where Abbott was scheduled to serve a meal to Texas Department of Public Safety troopers and Texas National Guardsmen.

The visit is intended to spotlight the combustible issue of illegal immigration and border security.

The border has been a major issue for Republican voters and GOP leaders and politicians for two and a half years, leading to harsh criticism of President Biden’s administration’s handling of the crisis and a surge in border crossings by migrants.

Trump pledged to launch the largest mass deportation effort in American history if he is re-elected and would reinstate travel bans and his 2019 "Remain in Mexico" program, which forced non-Mexican asylum seekers aiming to enter the U.S. at the southern border to wait in Mexico for the resolution of their cases.

This follows up on an article I did earlier last week about Ted Cruz's filing to run for his third Senate term. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas Officially Files for Reelection for a Third Term

Senator Ted Cruz, from the state of Texas, has announced that he will seek re-election to the U.S. Senate for a third term in 2024. The Republicans keeping every seat they have right now is vitally important if they want to take over a Senate chamber next year that is currently held by the Democrats with one seat. 

That Senator Cruz's colleague from the state of West Virginia, Democrat Joe Manchin, just recently announced that he would not be seeking re-election, makes it even more critical the Republicans hold their own.

BREAKING: Senator Joe Manchin Announces He Will Not Seek Re-Election

Cruz is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for the 118th Congress. He also serves on the Foreign Relations Committee and the Judiciary Committee, where he is ranking member on the Subcommittee on the Constitution.

So far, so good.

I'm sure Governor Abbott appreciates the fact that when Trump was in office, his state was not being overrun by illegal immigrants, and the federal government was not just looking the other way. His state has been absolutely overrun since Biden took office, and Trump has promised to round up as many illegal aliens as he can if he's re-elected and deport them ASAP.

Border Patrol Nabs Record Number of Illegals With Terrorist Ties at Southern Border

With all that said and done, many who don't live in Texas naturally assume that state is safely in the "red state" column and will be for the foreseeable future with its 40 electoral votes. The Lone Star state is a must-win for the GOP every four years to offset the massive 54-vote haul from California.

Here is my main concern about Texas no longer being solidly red but sliding into the purple range.

The invasion at the southern border that the Biden administration has allowed since January 2021 is by no means a mistake. This coincides nicely with the Democrats' push to try to have people who are here illegally vote and also not require a valid license of the state that they reside in to get a ballot. As fast as the authorities in Texas are able to nab and grab people crossing illegally from Mexico, tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, are able to slip away from authorities, and where they go is not known. 

That, coupled with the arrival of people from liberal states like California, Oregon, and Washington moving to friendlier states economically in the south and not changing their voting habits from those blue states, is of grave concern for Texas.

If you don't believe me, here are just some of the numbers since 2012, and they continue to slide from super safe to a little less so.

2012 - Romney vs Obama: Romney won the Lone Star State with 57.13 percent, over Obama's 41.35 percent, a margin of 15.78 percent. 

2012 - Cruz vs Sadler: Cruz 56.5 percent to Sadler 40.6 percent. 

2016 - Trump vs Clinton  Trump 52.2 percent to Clinton 43.2 percent.

2018 - Cruz  vs O'Rourke  Cruz 50.9 percent to O'Rourke 48.3 percent.

The 2018 Cruz campaign still won even though Beto raised money from all over the country, which is a good sign — but it was still too close for comfort.

2020 - Trump vs Biden  Trump 52 percent to Biden 46 percent.

Trump's almost 10-point win in 2016 was whittled down to just a six-point win four years later.

Now, this does NOT mean that Texas is about to turn blue anytime soon like my home state of Michigan is. 

Michigan is a blue state that went a very pale shade of purple in 2016 when Donald Trump won by a mere 11,000 votes out of four million cast. Last year, the governor, secretary of state, and attorney general all were kept by Democrats, and the legislature, for the first time in over 30 years, is controlled by the donkeys. Yet the governor here acts like it is going to flip red any minute to keep her troops fired up. Gov Whitmer Tells a Bit of a Fib About Michigan NOT Being a Blue State. Michigan Republicans think the state is secretly red, and Democrats just laugh and continue winning.

Texans overall seem to be happy with the leadership of Gov. Abbot and the GOP in general, which is discussed here, and that is something that the whole country should be thankful for.

Because at the end of the day, Texas is America's firewall in regards to having a chance of ever winning the White House in 2024 or anytime after that. The people of the Lone Star state have been greatly affected by the federal government's lackluster approach to their duty to control the border. They are holding their own, and a Republican needs to be elected to the presidency in 2024 to help the state to control that border and remove those here illegally.

If Texas does slide purple, then that means every election will be a toss-up, and that does not bode well for America in the long run.