This paper applies political discourse analysis to an examination of gubernatorial rhetoric and agenda setting around higher education in Texas during Governor Rick Perry's leadership, from 2000-2015. The authors analyzed 28 gubernatorial speeches using manifest content analysis in STATA and qualitative coding via pattern matching in Atlas.ti. Findings reveal that Governor Rick Perry: (1) framed the higher education agenda around reform strategies to increase accountability, efficiency, and affordability; (2) functioned as both an agenda setter and policy entrepreneur; and (3) primed constituents to support his agenda by positioning higher education as a workforce development mechanism and invoking Texas's tradition of leadership and competitiveness.