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Beto O’Rourke to challenge Greg Abbott in Texas governor race

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:


  • Beto O’Rourke announced he is running for governor of Texas in 2022.
  • O’Rourke is hoping to be the first Democrat elected in the state since 1994. 
  • The former congressman ran against Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018.

Beto O’Rourke said Monday that he is running for governor of Texas in 2022, giving Democrats a challenger to incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott.

The former congressman gained a national profile when he launched a senate campaign against Ted Cruz in 2018. O’Rourke came within just three points of defeating the incumbent senator. He also ran in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, losing out to President Joe Biden.

No Democrat has been elected to statewide office in Texas since 1994.

And while O’Rourke came closest than any other Democratic candidate to break that streak in his 2018 Senate bid, he’ll face an uphill battle against Abbott. The incumbent governor is far less divisive and more popular than Cruz. In 2018, Abbott easily won reelection by 13 points, gaining over 395,000 more votes than Cruz.

While O’Rourke put up a strong performance in 2018 and Democratic candidates flipped two competitive US House seats, it will be hard for Democrats to turn the state blue. Republicans made gains among nonwhite voters in 2020.

Former President Donald Trump easily carried the state, Sen. John Cornyn sailed to reelection, and Republicans held on to every single competitive US House seat up for election in 2020. 

O’Rourke’s liberal positions during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, particularly on the issue of gun control and his support for mandatory buybacks of certain assault rifles, could be a thorn in his side running in Texas again.

In his announcement video and in an interview with Texas Monthly Magazine, O’Rourke emphasized energy issues. He mentioned the need to shore up Texas’ power grid after a devastating winter storm in February left huge swaths of the state without power for days, causing hundreds of deaths and massive damage. 

“I don’t know how much any candidate is going to have to do to convince the people of Texas that Greg Abbott has failed them as governor,” O’Rourke said. “By one report, seven hundred people were killed due to his mismanagement of the power grid. And in the legislative session that followed, he did nothing meaningful to prepare us for the next winter storm or the next test of our electricity grid.”

O’Rourke is seeking to paint Abbott as an extremist.

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“Greg Abbott is looking out for his donors and his campaign contributors and not for the people of Texas,” O’Rourke told Texas Monthly. 

Source: Business insider

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9 Comments

9 Comments

  1. Pepere

    November 18, 2021 at 5:14 pm

    How can Beto run for governor if he is Biden’s secretary of transportation surely he has enough problems being secretary of transportation and a mommy-daddy role how could he handle being governor of the great state of Texas as well ?????

    • GomeznSA

      November 18, 2021 at 5:21 pm

      Pepe – umm I think you are ‘confusing’ bobby frank ( I will NOT use his fake nickname) with petey who is the sectrans.
      bobby frank can spout all of the trash he wants to from his pie hole but he has to FIRST secure the dem nomination in order to actually run against Gov. Abbott.

  2. MICHAEL W PINKSTON

    November 18, 2021 at 5:31 pm

    Don’t have to have your real name on the ballot. already starting off with a lie. This stupid ass needs to stay out of Texas. He wants to be in office so bad ,he’ll say anything to get there. He’s already a loser. Can’t be senator, can’t be president but seems to think he can be a governor. I want him to take a drug test. If you know what to look for, you can see on his face he does or have used cocaine. Look at his eyes.

  3. bruce

    November 18, 2021 at 5:37 pm

    There are not that many idiots in Texas who would actually cast a ballot for him. SO its depending on the cheat activities the dems tried in 2020. Texas tightened up the laws, IDs, no ballot harvesting, no unattended drop boxes and they never had dominion cheat machines, so they’ll have to find another way for this Dip Sht to come ever close.

  4. Janie Falgout

    November 18, 2021 at 7:42 pm

    Robert Francis uses Beto to make people think he’s Hispanic but he is really Irish. Another liberal liar. F**k him

  5. edward angell

    November 18, 2021 at 7:50 pm

    BeatO would make a great target holder for a day at the range.

  6. LMS

    November 18, 2021 at 8:00 pm

    Sorry Beto Baby our family has over 300 plus family members alone and we all will vote to keep you out. You are as bad as Biden!

  7. Nancy

    November 18, 2021 at 10:11 pm

    Forget it beto you don’t have a chance seriously you are a joke! Just try to be a good parent.

  8. GomeznSA

    November 18, 2021 at 10:26 pm

    I forgot to mention in my earlier reply that upwards of 90% of his campaign funds came from outside of Texas. IIRC that senate race still holds the record as most expensive ever but OTOH those same out of state ‘donors’ threw a LOT of money into the ‘runoffs’ in Georgia so who knows.
    BTW – a bunch of his campaign money ended up being used to fund supplies for one of the original caravans headed north – clear violation of campaign finance rules – crickets from the FEC.

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