Most of the buzz at the 2013 Texas Tribune Festival was created by the dynamic new face of the Democratic Party in Texas, Sen. Wendy Davis. However, the early frontrunner in the 2014 Governor’s race spoke on Saturday and didn’t beat around the bush when addressing his thoughts on the direction in which he hopes to lead Texas.

Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott left the politics out of the discussion and focused on the issues during his discussion with moderator, Ross Ramsey.

“We already have a 21st century economy, now we must have a 21st century education system to match it,” Abbott said. 

Just over two and half months ago, Abbott announced his intent to run for Governor of Texas.

During his speech that day, he highlighted the issues he stands for and discussed where Texas needs to do better. He covered a lot of topics that day including border control, abortion issues and cutting government spending.

During his conversation at the Tribune Festival, Abbott was forced to discuss some of the more complex issues that Texas must address.

A hot button topic at the festival was the disconnect between the Republican Party and Hispanic voters.

Abbott didn’t give much insight into how to address this problem specifically, but made it clear that he believed that Republican views are in line with Hispanic views on a majority of issues.

He expects to receive at least 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in the election. According to the Pew Research Center Hispanic Trends project released in 2012, 38 percent of Texas’s population is Hispanic and of that percentage 4.2 million Hispanics are voter eligible.

“Is there institutional discrimination in the drawing of the district lines?” asked Ramsey as he used the Hispanic vote discussion to ease into the next topic.

While Abbott stated with certainty that there was no discrimination in the creation of district lines, he has had no problem admitting to partisan motivations in redistricting.

According to a 54-page brief that Abbott filed at the start of August, “It is perfectly constitutional for a Republican-controlled legislature to make partisan districting decisions, even if there are incidental effects on minority voters who support Democratic candidates.”

Texas has strict Voter ID laws due to the fear of voter fraud during elections. Abbott drew a reaction from the crowd when he gave an example of why he believes that voter fraud is a high priority.

“Without voter fraud, Obamacare wouldn’t exist,” Abbott said.

Abbott bases this on Democratic Senator Al Franken’s victory for the Minnesota Senate seat in 2008.

Franken won by just 312 votes and Abbott states that fraudulent voters are to blame. Had Franken not been elected to the Senate and able to vote for Obamacare, Obamacare would never have existed.

Abbott is clearly against the President’s solution to our nation’s healthcare problem and provides his own answer in a three part answer:

• Allow the selling of insurance across state lines

• Delink employment and health insurance

• Ask for block grants, which allow for state discretion in spending, from the federal government

Abbott’s healthcare plan mirrors the one that Republican Sen. Ted Cruz proposed the night before during his opening keynote at the festival. Republicans have had a difficult time providing a definitive alternative to Obamacare, but both Cruz and Abbott made their plans very clear

“Greg Abbott has been a mentor to me…he is very smart, talented, principled and fearless,” Cruz said when asked about Abbott.

Abbott was determined not to make waves during his conversation and members of the audience were discouraged when he dodged an audience question about gender equality.

“It was a typical pivot that you hear in these canned responses all the time, but that felt cowardly to me,” said Shelby Cole, an editorial assistant at L Style G Style Magazine in Austin.

Wendy Davis has shown no fear in addressing controversial issues, which may hurt her in the long run, but Abbott has shown reluctance to make any strong statements.

Abbott will have to take a hard look at his strategy as the race to the governor’s mansion heats up.