It’s been a decade since the pride of Paint Creek, James Richard Perry—yes, that’s Rick—occupied the Texas governor’s mansion. In that time, Perry launched a second failed presidential bid, cha-cha’ed on national TV as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars, served as former President Donald Trump’s energy secretary (after previously calling the same Donald Trump a “cancer on conservatism”), and ducked a congressional subpoena on the Ukraine impeachment investigation.
More recently, he’s enjoyed a quiet retirement at his rural estate in Round Top, road-tripping in his vintage Chevelle, lending his celebrity status to causes as diverse as the use of pyschedelic drugs to treat combat military veterans and the legalization of sports betting in Texas.
The political and legislative chaos that followed his departure from the governorship, as his Republican successors led the state into radical new waters, has made it easy to forget the scope and consequence of Rick Perry’s record-setting 14-year tenure as Texas’ top executive.
