Editing Greg Abbott (section)

===2002 election===
Abbott resigned from the Texas Supreme Court in 2001 to run for [[Lieutenant Governor of Texas|lieutenant governor of Texas]].<ref name="TXMonthSweany102013"/> He had been campaigning for several months when the previous attorney general, [[John Cornyn]], vacated the post to run for the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]].<ref name="TXMonthSweany102013"/> Abbott then switched his campaign to the open attorney general's position in 2002. He defeated the Democratic nominee, former [[Austin, Texas|Austin]] mayor and former state senator<ref>{{Cite news|last=Goudeau|first=Ashley|date=April 30, 2020|title=State Sen. Kirk Watson headed to University of Houston|work=[[KVUE (Texas)|KVUE]]|url=https://www.kvue.com/article/news/politics/state-sen-kirk-watson-headed-to-university-of-houston/269-73329bce-5933-4028-a1ef-e2ba9802ae21|access-date=June 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506204329/https://www.kvue.com/article/news/politics/state-sen-kirk-watson-headed-to-university-of-houston/269-73329bce-5933-4028-a1ef-e2ba9802ae21|archive-date=May 6, 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Kirk Watson]], 57% to 41%.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-11-05 |title=Race Summary Report - 2002 General Election |url=https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist95_state.htm |access-date=2022-08-28 |website=Texas Secretary of State |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227030603/https://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist95_state.htm |archive-date=February 27, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> Abbott was sworn in on December 2, 2002, following Cornyn's election to the Senate.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Janet|last=Elliott|date=December 3, 2002 |title=Abbott is sworn in as attorney general|url=https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/abbott-is-sworn-in-as-attorney-general-2087441.php|access-date=2025-04-18 |website=Chron.com}}</ref>