--- title: Wendy Davis Wheelchair Ad Calls Greg Abbott a Hypocrite description: Texas Democrat brings up opponent's disability in new attack ad canonical: https://time.com/3491498/wendy-davis-greg-abbott-wheelchair/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-10T21:23:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:43:48.708Z article:section: Politics og:title: Wendy Davis Wheelchair Ad Calls Greg Abbott a Hypocrite og:description: Texas Democrat brings up opponent's disability in new attack ad og:url: https://time.com/3491498/wendy-davis-greg-abbott-wheelchair/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt607dba8627d81891/69876025cd1bba12646f28f5/ap999748023249.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Governor's Race-Debate og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Wendy Davis Wheelchair Ad Calls Greg Abbott a Hypocrite twitter:description: Texas Democrat brings up opponent's disability in new attack ad twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt607dba8627d81891/69876025cd1bba12646f28f5/ap999748023249.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Wendy Davis Wins the Prize for Most Ill-Advised Political Ad of 2014 > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 10, 2014 9:23 PM UTC  Texas State Senator Wendy Davis, Democratic Gubernatorial candidate, responds to a question during the final gubernatorial debate in a KERA-TV studio in Dallas on Sept. 30, 2014. Texas State Senator Wendy Davis, Democratic Gubernatorial candidate, responds to a question during the final gubernatorial debate in a KERA-TV studio in Dallas on Sept. 30, 2014. Andy Jacobsohn—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 10, 2014 9:23 PM UTC The 2014 campaign season reached its nastiest point yet Friday, with a campaign ad by Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis that plays off the disability of her opponent Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, while calling him a hypocrite in the same breath. Abbott was struck by a limb falling from an oak tree in 1984, and has used a wheelchair ever since. In the ad titled “Justice”, a narrator shares that after the Republican’s accident—which isn’t directly mentioned, though the ad opens with a shot of an empty wheelchair—he “sued and got millions. Since then he spent his career working against other victims.” It’s a theme that’s played out in many of Davis’s ads, though this is the first to reference Abbott’s own disability. The Republican candidate has [admitted](http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20130802-greg-abbott-has-received-6-million-so-far-from-suit-over-accident.ece) receiving about $6 million in damages in the 30 years since the accident. The Abbott campaign has blasted the ad as a “historic low for someone seeking to represent Texans.” “Sen. Davis’ ad shows a disturbing lack of judgment from a desperate politician, and completely disqualifies her from seeking higher office in Texas,” Abbott campaign spokesperson Amelia Chasse said in a statement. Zac Petkanas, communications director for the Davis campaign responded to the backlash the ad has received Friday telling TIME, “This ad does not exist in a vacuum, it includes issues that have been raised throughout the campaign.” Petkanas said Abbott “has been building a career denying that same justice across the state of Texas—not something Texas deserve to hear, they need to hear.” With just three full weeks left until Election Day, the ad comes off as a rather desperate attempt to garner attention for Davis, who is trailing Abbot by about 11 points, according to [Real Clear Politics](http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/governor/tx/texas%5Fgovernor%5Fabbott%5Fvs%5Fdavis-3596.html). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3491498/wendy-davis-greg-abbott-wheelchair/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3491498/wendy-davis-greg-abbott-wheelchair/"},"headline":"Wendy Davis Wins the Prize for Most Ill-Advised Political Ad of 2014","datePublished":"2014-10-10T21:23:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:43:48.708Z","description":"Texas Democrat brings up opponent's disability in new attack ad","url":"https://time.com/3491498/wendy-davis-greg-abbott-wheelchair/","keywords":["2014 Election","Ads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt607dba8627d81891/69876025cd1bba12646f28f5/ap999748023249.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt607dba8627d81891/69876025cd1bba12646f28f5/ap999748023249.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Governor's Race-Debate","caption":"Governor's Race-Debate","creditText":"Andy Jacobsohn—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3491498/wendy-davis-greg-abbott-wheelchair/","name":"Wendy Davis Wins the Prize for Most Ill-Advised Political Ad of 2014"}}]}] ```