Greg Abbott Checks & Balances Texas

Greg Abbott Renewed a Border 'Emergency' at Least 69 Times. Now That He Lost, Some Texas Republicans Want Those Powers Cut Before Gina Hinojosa Gets Them.

A day after voters fired Greg Abbott, a Texas Republican demanded he call a special session to limit the powers the next governor will inherit. Those are powers Abbott used for years. Georgia's Republican governor rejected the same kind of move in writing. We found no response from Abbott.

MAGA Report Cards · Nov 06, 2026

Greg Abbott Renewed a Border 'Emergency' at Least 69 Times. Now That He Lost, Some Texas Republicans Want Those Powers Cut Before Gina Hinojosa Gets Them. — Photo: FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth

Texas voters fired Greg Abbott on Tuesday. Democrat Gina Hinojosa beat him 52.78% to 45.66%, the first time a Democrat has won the governor's office there since 1990.

Less than 24 hours later, a Republican was demanding that Abbott use his last weeks in office to shrink the job.

State Rep. Brian Harrison called on Abbott to bring lawmakers back for a special session and limit the governor's emergency powers before Hinojosa is sworn in. "We still have total power in Texas, and we must act like it," Harrison wrote on X. "We have TEN WEEKS LEFT to protect Texas from near total Democrat rule."

He said Hinojosa would "inherit the powers of a DICTATOR." In an interview, he told FOX 4 that if Abbott "wants to do one final good thing for the state of Texas," he will "immediately convene the Texas legislature."

Harrison asked "every elected Republican in Texas" to join him. FOX 4 reported that some Republican lawmakers are calling on Abbott to limit the office. It also cited the Quorum Report, which said Texas Senate Republicans met Wednesday to discuss reorganizing the chamber and stripping newly elected Lt. Gov. Vikki Goodwin of legislative powers.

Voters picked these two women on Tuesday. Republicans started talking about taking power away from their offices on Wednesday.

The powers that were fine for Abbott

Here is the part of Harrison's "dictator" talk worth sitting with. The powers he's describing are the ones Greg Abbott has held all along.

Abbott has renewed or amended his border disaster proclamation at least 69 times since 2021, ProPublica and the Texas Tribune counted, including 21 times after Trump took office. As we reported, that kind of declaration lets a governor shift money between agencies without a vote of the Legislature, suspend state rules and skip competitive bidding. Since January 2025, two of the agencies in his border operation awarded more than $5 million in no-bid contracts citing the emergency.

Texas Republicans controlled the governor's office and both chambers of the Legislature that entire time. Their run in both chambers lasted 24 years. If emergency powers were a threat to liberty, they had every chance to fix them.

To be fair to Harrison, he says he has held this view for years. He filed a bill in 2022 against "never ending emergency powers," and its text said the problem "should be opposed irrespective of which political party runs the executive branch." The bill didn't move forward. A Republican-run Texas never passed it. It became urgent the day after a Democrat won.

Georgia's Republican governor said no. Abbott hasn't said anything.

Abbott is the one who can answer this, because Harrison's demand is that he call the session. In the reporting we've read, he hasn't responded. After conceding, he told supporters he would "assist her and her team in a period of transition." That is a fine sentence. It doesn't answer the question.

Other Republican governors have answered it.

In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms also won the governor's race on Tuesday. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp put it in writing the next day: "I will not be calling a special session of the Georgia General Assembly in order to curtail executive branch powers or debate redistricting changes. The voters of our state have spoken."

In Ohio, where analysts expect Republican lawmakers to try something similar, outgoing Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said: "I don't think any governor is going to approve anything, whether Democrat or Republican, that would dramatically change the powers of the governor. I don't think that's appropriate."

That is all it takes. It's two sentences.

Texas Attorney General-elect Nathan Johnson called Harrison's demand "irresponsible." He warned that trying it after "such an overwhelming vote" would hurt the Republican Party's reputation "for a generation."

Hinojosa will be sworn in January 19. Abbott can end this conversation any day between now and then.

What the record shows

Greg Abbott renewed or amended a border disaster declaration at least 69 times, and a 2022 bill to limit those powers went nowhere while Republicans ran Texas. After Abbott lost, a Republican state representative demanded a special session to cut those powers before Gina Hinojosa takes office, and Senate Republicans reportedly discussed stripping the incoming Democratic lieutenant governor of legislative powers. Georgia's Republican governor rejected a move like this in writing the day after the election. In the reporting we've read, Abbott has not responded.