What 25 years?
He’s been in Texas government since the late 80’s. Geez, you think he just came out of nowhere to become governor?
Just checked to make sure and it wasn’t late 80s but mid-80’s so he’s had 27 years to step up to the plate.
“In 1984, Perry was elected to the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat from a district (64) that included his home county of Haskell” according to his bio at wiki -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_House_of_Representatives