Former U.S. House of Representatives member Beto O’Rourke announced on November 15, his intention to seek the office of Governor in the 2022 Texas elections. He disclosed his challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott on social media and in an exclusive interview with the Texas Monthly.
O’Rourke most recently ran for President in the 2020 election cycle seeking the Democratic nomination. After campaigning for nearly one year and receiving little support, O’Rourke ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Joe Biden. O’Rourke had previously challenged Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm elections, losing by a slim 2.6 percentage points.
In his exclusive interview, O’Rourke says that he intends to challenge Abbott on what he terms “smallness,” including recently signed legislation in the state that restricts transgender students from participating in publicly-funded sports programs, bans of nearly all abortions, and gun rights legislation that allows Texans to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.
“I want to serve this state and try to bring the people of Texas together to do some of the really big work that is before us and get past this smallness and divisiveness that Greg Abbott has brought to Texas,” O’Rourke said to the Texas Monthly.
A recent poll by the University of Texas indicates that voters in the state may not side with O’Rourke and his left-leaning ideologies, despite frustration with decisions Abbott has made. The poll found that 46 percent of respondents support Abbott, while only 37 percent were willing to back O’Rourke. Ten percent of voters surveyed had not made a decision.
O’Rourke supports a public option healthcare plan that would create a U.S. government-run health agency to compete with private companies with hopes of driving profits down and creating lower costs to consumers.
The public option is slightly unpopular with voters according to University of Texas polling in 2009, with 47 percent against and 43 percent in favor. Around 45 percent of doctors responded that they would seek early retirement should a public option pass.
Second Amendment rights are a big deal in Texas, and O’Rourke is likely at odds with the beliefs of a significant number of voters in the state. He supports a universal background check for all firearms to include closing the “gun show loophole” that allows a state resident to purchase a firearm at a gun show or from a private individual without any background check.
Polling indicates strong support in Texas for sensible background checks; however, O’Rourke’s position on banning so-called “assault rifles” is less popular, particularly among Republican voters.
“I know that Texans don’t want to see their friends and family members and neighbors shot up with these weapons of war,” O’Rourke said. “We had a program that allowed for the due diligence, the vetting, training, and the background check to protect the public. That is all gone due to the extremist policies of Greg Abbott. So that’s what I’m hearing back from the people here in Texas.”
Polling conducted by the University of Texas found that overall, 40 percent of Texans support banning the sale of semi-automatic firearms that include designs meant to look like military rifles. The poll shows that 49 percent oppose bans, and the political split is even greater.
Only 12 percent of Republicans support bans, while 72 percent of Democrats are in favor. O’Rourke commented during his presidential run, “Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” a position that galvanized many voters against the El Paso native.
While O’Rourke faces an uphill battle against Abbott, who has remained popular during his Governorship, many Texans are unhappy with decisions that have been made recently. O’Rourke points to the legislature’s handling of the February power grid failure as a weakness, along with efforts by Abbott and the legislature that Democrats have characterized as efforts to restrict voting rights.
“In the 2020 elections, more than seven million eligible voters did not cast a ballot just in the state of Texas, in the most consequential election arguably since 1864,” O’Rourke said. “I want to make sure that I am reaching out to and listening to those who either had an obstacle in place that prevented them from voting, or never heard from a candidate and felt forgotten or written off or not included in the conversation and in the future of this state.”