He won because the leading GOP candidate Vetter was smeared and many self-righteous GOP voters didn’t vote for him
This. Also, the teacher union/government employee/media axis has for years carried out a jihad against business. They’ve successfully driven much of the energy industry and its jobs to Texas.
Yes - it is odd that is what sunk him because that same thing had been used on him before in his Senate re-election just prior to that and the voters forgave him for it...but when it was recycled again in his governor’s race, the same voters did not.