Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced Monday that he will not seek re-election, but is there another presidential bid in his future?
He told Fox News Sunday another run at the White House was "an option."
Texas Gov. Rick Perry announced Monday that he will not seek re-election, but is there another presidential bid in his future?He told Fox News Sunday another run at the White House was "an option. Perry was elected lieutenant governor in 1998 and became governor after George W. Bush vacated the seat upon his ascension as president of the United States. Perry handily won re-election bids in 2002, 2006 and 2010, and made a splash in last year’s Republican presidential primary before bowing out before the South Carolina primary.
Reaction on social media to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s announcement that he will not seek re-election ranged from concern to comical.
“I choose to interpret Rick Perry’s announcement as a sign he’s afraid of running against Wendy Davis," tweeted @DrewCourt.
“Rick Perry retiring to devote himself to full-time manhunt of Ben Bernanke,” tweeted @DaveWeigel.
“I’m forced to wonder what Rick Perry’s next career will be. My money is on megachurch televangelist,” tweeted @KW¬_SS55.
Not everyone was celebrating. @TParker63 tweeted, “Thank you to @GovernorPerryfor 3+ terms as a tremendously effective Governor and a tireless conservative champion.”
“Sad day. Rick Perry leaving gov’s office – doesn’t rule out 2016,” wrote @prospectia.
“Rick Perry, one of the greatest governors in the history of the state of Texas,” tweeted @TeacherAPUSH.
Perry is favored by many on the right for his Christian values and advocacy of free enterprise, and many were disappointed when he dropped out of the last presidential race. His debate performances, however, didn’t help his chances.
In November of 2011, he got mixed up in discussing government regulation and trying to name the federal agencies that would be gone if he were elected.
“It’s three agencies of government when I get there that are gone: Commerce, Education and – the, uh – what’s the third one there? Let’s see,” Perry said.
When Mitt Romney suggested maybe it was the EPA, Perry replied, “EPA! There you go.”
But then he backtracked and said he couldn’t remember the third one. “Oops,” he said.
About a month later, the Texas governor misstated that there were eight members of the Supreme Court (there are nine), and flubbed the name of liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor.
Washington Post columnist Alexandra Petri followed that up with this quip:
“Watching Rick Perry campaign recently has been something like watching an irate kitten go through a wash cycle. It’s funny, then sad, then funny, then hilarious, then you just want it to stop."
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