On Thursday night, GOP Governor Greg Abbott used his fifth State of the State speech, a biennial address mandated by the Texas Constitution, to cut an ad for a large television conglomerate and a corporation that manufactures “rare earth magnets.” The three-term governor, fresh off an easy reelection, also took the chance to snub the Capitol press corps and unveil a list of policy priorities that, while soundly regressive, was perhaps a touch less vicious than it might have been.
Bucking tradition, Abbott chose not to give his address—which clocked in at a tight 20-odd minutes—in Austin’s state House chamber during a joint legislative session with media present. Instead, he spoke at the facility of Noveon Magnetics in San Marcos with lawmakers invited but no press besides Nexstar Media, which carried the speech. At one point, attendees had even been told to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
“I’m speaking to you from the manufacturing floor of Noveon,” Abbott pointed out near the top of his remarks, as the televised broadcast cut to b-roll of Abbott getting a tour of the company’s quite unremarkable facility. The governor continued to wax rhapsodic about the specific company: “With the help of businesses like Noveon, Texas is number one in the United States for the most new jobs.”
