GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas — With the uproar over last year’s winter storm in a holding pattern, Democratic nominee for governor Beto O’Rourke is trying to sell Texas voters on bread-and-butter issues that he hopes will compel them to fire incumbent Greg Abbott.
In varied events across the state, O’Rourke is pounding three topics — jobs, education and health care — as critical reasons to elect him governor.
It’s a transition of sorts. O’Rourke is coming off of a 20-city tour designed to highlight the state officials’ failure in securing the Texas power grid, which resulted in sweeping power outages and more than 240 deaths. While he still discusses the grid issue, O’Rourke hopes to better connect with Texas voters by discussing basic — but sometimes elusive — government services.
“I want to make sure that we always begin with and focus on the big important things. And so I keep coming back to jobs, schools and the ability to see a doctor, because almost all of us can agree on those things,” O’Rourke said during a recent campaign stop in Grand Prairie.
“You and I may disagree on the issue of abortion, or may have different opinions when it comes to transgender children. But we can agree that we should be creating more higher paying jobs in the state of Texas.”
O’Rourke is the underdog in his race against Republican Abbott, who has been casting the Democrat as a flip-flopper who is trying to gull Texas voters. Though he’s traveled to towns in Texas big and small, his crowds have been pedestrian compared to what he attracted in his 2018 Senate campaign against GOP incumbent Ted Cruz.
What’s more, O’Rourke still bears the stain from his 2020 presidential bid, in which he moved to the left on positions like gun control and energy policy.
“Beto O’ Rourke has run one of the most lackluster campaigns ever, changing policy positions daily depending on which part of the state he happens to be in,” said Abbott campaign spokesman Mark Miner. “The only thing Beto has been consistent on is his complete inconsistency on issues. No matter how hard he tries to reinvent himself, we will continue reminding the public of his support for gun control, open borders and the Green New Deal that will kill hundreds of thousands of Texas energy jobs.”
Along with his core issues, the former El Paso congressman said he’s going to be more of a fighter than pacifist, a major change in his campaign style. In his 2018 race against Cruz, O’Rourke shied away from directly confronting or criticizing his rival, leaving such contacts up to his allies. O’Rourke said he’s now taking the fight to Abbott, a renowned political brawler who likes the contact.
“I’m going to vigorously and aggressively prosecute the case on why we need to retire Greg Abbott from this office and hire me,” O’Rourke said.
O’Rourke said that in 2018, he left it up to voters to form their own opinions on Cruz, but this time it will be different.
“People need to know why we lost power last February, why we are doing so poorly in our schools, why we are struggling when it comes to career opportunities,” he said.
Democrats applaud O’Rourke’s aggression.
“You can’t win if voters don’t decide to fire who has the job now,” said Democratic strategist Harold Cook. “He’s more disciplined about a number of the issues and his focus seems to be based on data and he’s making it relevant to the incumbent’s shortcomings. I don’t know if it’s going to show up in the results or not, but he’s going to be a lot better off as a candidate doing it that way.”
O’Rourke’s campaign for governor is in stark contrast to his 2018 Senate bid, when he built star power that led to mega-rallies and prolific fundraising. Now a known player on the political scene, O’Rourke’s events are no longer jamming up traffic.
Still, O’Rourke hopes his campaign for governor will lead to not only a strong voter turnout effort, but a crash course in how to move Texas forward.
“Focusing on the things that matter most to us, instead of the things that divide us, or keep us apart, that’s not only the right thing to do, it’s the way I want to lead as governor,” O’Rourke said. “It gives people, including Democrats, Republicans and independents alike, a campaign that they can be part of.”
Jobs, health care, education
Abbott and fellow Republicans are in the driver’s seat for this year’s midterm elections, and are engaging voters through issues like border security, parental rights in schools, increased restrictions on abortion, curbing the use of mail-in ballots and outlawing some medical treatments given to transgender kids.
These culture-war topics are tried-and-true motivators for Republican base voters, and they are expected to still be key for them in November general election.
But in 2018, Democrats gained traction by talking about health care issues, including the need to block then President Donald Trump and the GOP from repealing the Affordable Care Act.
O’Rourke came within 2.6 % of defeating Cruz then, while Democrats gained 12 seats in the Texas House and two in the state’s congressional delegation, including the seat currently held by Dallas Democrat Colin Allred.
O’Rourke hopes kitchen table issues will propel Democrats again.
“The sensational stuff can catch our attention and can rile us up in the short term, but the big basic things, like the kind of job you can look forward to working, or the kind of career that you can have over the course of your life, that’s what’s most important to us,” O’Rourke said.
At his campaign appearances, the former Congressman has been trying to connect basic service issues to the experiences of Texans.
In a March roundtable in Crockett, O’Rourke listened to residents concerned about health care in rural communities. According to O’Rourke, 26 hospitals in 23 Texas rural communities have closed.
Jackie Redwine, a traveling nurse, said rural residents don’t have access to the same health care services as city dwellers.
“There is no pediatric neurologist within 200 miles of here,” Redwine said. “That’s par for the course with rural hospitals. You have to go to the big cities to get a specialist. In the rural communities you have to wait for care because you don’t have that access to care.”
“It really is a crisis right now,” O’Rourke said at the event. “We have to meet it with the urgency that this kind of crisis demands.”
Julie Ross, a Dallas health care and disability rights advocate, said O’Rourke should continue to press the health care issue, including the need for Texas officials to expand Medicaid and accept the federal dollars that would come to the state under the Affordable Care Act.
“I know that Beto has talked about this, but now more than ever we need to expand Medicaid,” Ross said. “We’re already subsidizing it with our federal dollars anyway. It’s foolish to leave that money on the table and allow Texans to suffer.”
In Grand Prairie, O’Rourke, with his family with him, met with union members who teach an apprenticeship program that prepares residents for jobs as electricians.
“In our schools we should focus on the fact that seven out of 10 fourth-graders cannot read at grade level right now,” O’Rourke said after the meeting. “So with that being the case, why is the current governor focused on which kids can play which middle school athletics and turning in the parents of certain transgender kids for accusations of child abuse? Let’s focus on the big things, on the things that we can agree on, on the things that pull Democrats and Republicans together.“
On the attack against Abbott
Democrats are also pleased that O’Rourke is trying to match Abbott punch for punch. He comments on social media with criticisms of the governor, and blasts Abbott at rallies.
“Taking the fight to Abbott is the right approach,” said state Rep. Chris Turner, D-Arlington.
O’Rourke’s constant criticism of Abbott over state power grid issues continues to surface, even though Texas got through winter this year without major problems.
“We certainly have to make the case about where we have been failed by those in power right now, and what happened last February is central to this argument,” O’Rourke said.
Abbott and his campaign team have accused O’Rourke of hoping the grid fails to help his political prospects. They point to the slew of legislation signed into law last year to fortify the grid, though experts say more work is needed, particularly with on natural gas concerns.
“He continues to run a campaign based on tearing down Texas,” said Miner, Abbott’s campaign spokesperson.
At his events, O’Rourke does say Texans need to unify around a common set of goals.
“We’ve had enough of fighting the culture war stuff and polarization and division,” O’Rourke said in Grand Prairie. “Let’s get back together again. And I think these three issues have the power to do it.”
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