SAN ANTONIO — Texas is in need of decisive leadership that will look at lingering problems in new ways. It’s in need of leadership different from the kind the state has had for much of the last 14 years under Gov. Rick Perry.

Something different than: federal government as boogeyman; responsible regulation of Texas resources and its environment deemed anti-business; international border as threat; raising the minimum wage as anti-jobs; and the notion that public education isn’t in dire need of immediate additional investment.

Because she is simply more on target with solutions to the state’s problems, we recommend Wendy Davis to be Texas’ next governor.

And there’s this: Beyond Texas’ very real infrastructure and funding problems, there’s also need for a fresh look at the state’s notions of fairness.

No, it’s not OK for the state to meddle in who Texans choose to marry on the matter of gay marriage. Nor is it acceptable to get between women and their doctors on abortion.

It is not fair to discriminate against minority voters via voter ID at the ballot box. Or in redistricting to maintain GOP political dominance.

Abbott, defending the state on these cases, has said he is obligated as attorney general to defend Texas laws. But we have not heard anything from the candidate to suggest that his personal views differ from those he espouses as the state’s top lawyer.

As attorney general, he has persistently challenged federal regulations that seek to protect the environment and the health of Texans. These, too, are allegedly anti-business, according to Abbott. They aren’t.

Davis believes climate change and humans’ contribution to it are real. Abbott injects so many doubts that his answers on climate change put him firmly in the discredited ranks of deniers.

And given their disparate answers on climate change, it seems clear that Davis, more than Abbott, would find the proper balance between nurturing the state’s important energy industry and protecting the environment.

Davis favors Medicaid expansion or indicates she would work with the Legislature to arrive at a middle ground. Abbott opposes Medicaid expansion, and his chief solution — Medicaid block grants — will simply not do the job of securing coverage for the nation-leading number of Texans without insurance.

While Abbott talks about more targeted money for public education — and incentives but no state mandate for universal, all-day pre-K — he’s not who we’d pick to buck a Legislature with its head in the sand on education funding in particular. Here also, he is appealing yet another case in which a state district judge, not the first, has said funding is inadequate and unconstitutional. Davis, who attempted to filibuster $5.4 billion in cuts to schools a few years ago, believes schools are underfunded and that the Legislature should revise the funding formula.

The candidates have traded barbs over alleged ethical lapses. For Davis, on voting as a Fort Worth councilwoman and state senator on measures benefiting her or her clients. For Abbott, for being an insufficient watchdog on the Texas Enterprise Fund, while accepting substantive contributions from entities that benefited from TEF grants.

But in Davis we see more support, at least at the state level, for the kind of campaign finance reform that would head some of these kinds of abuses off.

A Democratic governor would still have a Republican Legislature with which to contend. We see value, however, in the moderation most likely to occur if one-party rule is eliminated.

It’s time for such change in Texas — including more inclusiveness and basic fairness. Davis offers these more than Abbott.