On Tuesday, gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke kicked off a 49-day tour of Texas.
Speaking to a crowd in his hometown of El Paso where the tour set off, O’Rourke blasted Gov. Greg Abbott for prohibiting abortion in the state, failing to stop mass shootings, and rising utlility costs.
“He is chaos. He is corruption. He is cruelty, and he is incompetence and it doesn’t stop there,” O’Rourke said of Abbott.
“What if instead of focusing on the culture wars and persecuting people, and trying to warn Texans about who they’re supposed to hate or be afraid of going forward, we had a governor who focused on the economy, bringing prices down in the state, making it more affordable to raise your family, to start a business, to go to work, to live to your full potential,” O’Rourke said.
O’Rourke also promised to expand medicare, weatherize the electrical grid and enact gun safety reforms.
The 5,600-mile tour will see more than 70 public events in more than 65 counties and will run from July to early September.
The tour comes after O’Rourke raised $27.6 million in campaign contributions while Abbott raised $24.9 million in the latest fundraising period. O’Rourke has $23 million cash on hand while Abbott has $45.7 million.
Polling between the two candidates has tightened as of recently. The incumbent governor leads O’Rourke by an average of six percentage points according to an aggregate of four polls that surveyed voters in June.
Photo: Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignalarchive.com
