AUSTIN, Texas — Gov. Greg Abbott again holds a single-digit lead over Democrat Beto O’Rourke in the Texas governor’s race, while scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton probably is headed for a GOP runoff, according to a Dallas Morning News-University of Texas at Tyler poll released Sunday.
With a few breaks, though, such as a decision to stay home by GOP voters who say they probably will vote but aren’t sure, Paxton might get close to escaping a runoff, the poll found.
And although the state’s main electric grid held up well during a recent ice storm, boosting Texans’ confidence that their lights wouldn’t go out as they did last year, Abbott actually lost momentum from his double-digit lead over O’Rourke in January, despite his heavy spending on ads boosting himself and slamming O’Rourke.
