Andrew White grew up in the Governor's Mansion, when his father Mark White was Governor of Texas in the 1980s. Today, the younger White will announce he wants to move back in, as the next governor, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
White, 45, calls himself a 'very conservative Democrat,' and he says the increasingly conservative priorities embraced by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott are what prompted him to run.
"He is worried about 200,000 of the most fringe voters in his primary, and not the rest of us," White told News Radio 1200 WOAI. "Our state needs real leadership, somebody who doesn't care if he gets re-elected, he just cares about making the rights decisions for the state."
White says it was three specific decisions that Abbott made that prompted him to run.
"The bathroom bill is one example, sanctuary cities is another one, not expanding Medicaid, I don't see where he's coming from," he said.
White is a Houston businessman who has never sought elective office.
Abbott and other Republican leaders in state government are moving increasingly to the conservative end of the spectrum in recent years. Analysts say that is because 'Tea Party' and movement conservatives are far more likely to vote in the Republican primary, which, with Republicans firmly in control over all statewide offices, are where many elections have lately been decided.
White's announcement comes one day after Lupe Valdez, the Sheriff of Dallas County, resigned from that post and announced she will also seek the Democratic nomination for governor.
Abbott, who defeated well funded and extremely popular Democrat Wendy Davis in 2014 by more than twenty percentage points, doesn't appear to be concerned about his potential opponents.
“It’s been a merry-go-round for the Texas Democrat Party in their pursuit for a candidate for governor, and after a dizzying search, they have finally fielded a team of far-left liberals ready to battle in the primary," the governor said.
In a video announcing his candidacy, White joked that he 'doesn't care which bathroom you use, as long as you flush when you're done.'
PHOTO; ANDREW WHITE FOR GOVERNOR