Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has accepted an invitation from Nexstar Media Group to face off against Beto O’Rourke in a gubernatorial debate in the Rio Grande Valley.
The debate will take place on September 30 at the University of Texas — Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg. It will be moderated by a panel of journalists, including Britt Moreno and Sally Hernandez of KXAN Austin, Gromer Jeffers of The Dallas Morning News, and Steve Spriester of KSAT San Antonio.
This will be the only debate before the general election in November, according to a press release from Gov. Abbott’s campaign.
“Governor Abbott is looking forward to debating Beto O’Rourke and explaining to all Texans about the Governor’s efforts to secure the future of Texas by securing the border, defunding cities that defund the police, lowering property taxes, and protecting our oil & gas industry,” said the governor’s campaign chairman, Gardner Pete.
“Unlike Beto O’Rourke, who supports open borders, defunding the police, increasing property taxes, and supports radical energy policies that would hurt our oil & gas workers,” Pete added.
The O’Rourke campaign welcomed the debate from Abbott but called on the governor to participate in three additional town hall-style debates in various areas of the state, where the candidates could take questions directly from Texans.
“One debate in one community for the entire state of Texas is not nearly enough. The people of Texas deserve better,” said O’Rourke’s campaign spokesperson, Chris Evans. “While Beto has held 80 town hall meetings where he has answered over 500 questions from Texans from any political party in every part of the state, Abbott has not held public town halls where he takes questions from those he is supposed to serve.”
“That helps explain why his extreme policies are so out of touch with the overwhelming majority of Texans,” Evans added.
.@BetoORourke camp responds, agreeing to the RGV debate, but also calls for 3 town hall style debates in addition to the one on Sept. 30. https://t.co/5lE5aFsox4 pic.twitter.com/d9kQsdEQ8A
— Brad Johnson (@bradj_TX) August 9, 2022
The debate will be available to be streamed in every media market and will be covered by Spanish-language television stations throughout Texas.