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Audience members cheer as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at the Texas GOP convention in the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Friday, June 12, 2026.<\/p>\n
Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
HOUSTON \u2014 At the Texas Republican State Convention, Gov. Greg Abbott turned a perceived insult into an advantage.<\/p>\n
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Blazoned on campaign-style placards and electronic message boards inside the sprawling George R. Brown Convention Center on Friday, delegates and visitors were unable to miss the splashy phrase “Governor Hot Wheels” above his newly launched election-year slogan, “Unity Drives Victory.”<\/p>\n
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That “hot wheels” phrase stems from a line in a speech last year by Democratic U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett that was pilloried by Republicans because it seemed to mock the fact that Abbott has used a wheelchair since he was paralyzed in the mid-1980s, when tree fell on him.<\/p>\n
“Despicable” is how Attorney General Ken Paxton described the remark. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn called it “shameful.” Crockett later said the line was not intended the way Republicans perceived it.<\/p>\n
Intended or not, Abbott is embracing it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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People walk past a sign displaying the \u201cGovernor Hot Wheels\u201d nickname embraced by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shown during the Texas GOP convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on Friday, June 12, 2026.<\/p>\n
Melissa Phillip\/Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Increasingly, politicians on both sides are discovering that the fastest way to neutralize a taunt is to adopt it themselves. What once might have been a damaging nickname can now become a fundraising pitch, a campaign slogan or a badge of honor for supporters.<\/p>\n
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Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to close Republican primaries in his first in-person appearance at the state party convention in nearly a decade \u2014 embracing a call of grassroots activists as he urges the party to unite ahead of a potentially bruising midterm.\u2060<\/p>\n
Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Recall that last month after Paxton defeated Cornyn in the Republican Senate runoff, he\u00a0tested a few lines aimed at his Democratic opponent in the November general election. “Low-T\u00a0Talarico” and “Talafreako” were among Paxton’s victory-speech favorites.<\/p>\n