FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Democrat Beto O’Rourke on Tuesday suggested that his opponent, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, would not concede if he were to lose a close race.
“I’m not counting on it,” O’Rourke told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s editorial board. He said Abbott has openly embraced former President Donald Trump, “who himself tried to subvert this democracy.”
Abbott’s campaign previously told the Texas Tribune that the governor will accept the results in the gubernatorial race.
O’Rourke referenced an audit of the 2020 election results in Dallas, Harris, Tarrant and Collin counties after Trump wrote Abbott September 2021 to ask for an audit. Initial results found few problems in Tarrant County.
In a text Tuesday, Abbott spokesperson Mark Miner reiterated that Abbott would accept the election results.
“Beto’s comments represent someone who has completely lost touch with reality and may be experiencing a mental breakdown,” Miner said. “Of course Governor Abbott will accept the results of the election.”
Following the lead of Trump, some members of the Republican Party have disputed the results of the 2020 election, falsely claiming there was voter fraud.
“Though we are lucky as a country that ultimately the president was sworn in despite the attempt to block the counting of the Electoral College votes, that threat has not passed,” O’Rourke said. “And I don’t think it is anywhere more dangerous than right here in the state of Texas where it’s harder to vote and harder to register to vote than in any other state in the union, and where we have those in public office and those running for public office who will refuse to admit that President (Joe) Biden is the president of the United States.”
Texas in 2021 passed a law that supporters said bolstered the integrity of elections. Opponents said the policies would disenfranchise voters.
O’Rourke said he has a team prepared to make sure the will of voters is honored.
“I will absolutely honor whatever that outcome is, as I have before in every election I’ve participated in,” O’Rourke said.
Abbott has lead O’Rourke in recent polls, but the difference between the two candidates has been in the single digits.
Election Day is Nov. 8. Early voting starts Oct. 24.
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