With 61 days until election day, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’ Rourke have started their attack advertisements to slam one another on some of Texas voters’ top issues.
In a 30-second ad released Tuesday, O’Rourke tweeted, “Every Texan needs to know what Greg Abbott has done to the women of this state.”
O’Rourke highlighted Abbott’s latest answer from a September 4th interview with Lone Star Politics on what the governor would tell a victim of rape or incest if they wanted to get an abortion and are not allowed to under Texas’ current laws.
“They can get the Plan B pill,” Abbott said.
Interestingly, this answer differs from when the governor was initially asked this question after signing the state’s six-week abortion ban into law last year.
“Texas will work tirelessly to make sure that we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets,” Abbott said in a September 2021 press conference.
Recent polls show O’Rourke trailing Abbott by seven points, but Democrats polling higher in favorability among Texas voters.
Nonetheless, in Abbott’s $4 million negative television ad against O’Rourke launched on Monday, Abbott accused O’Rourke of not supporting law enforcement.
“Across America, there are too many scenes like this. Beto O’ Rourke’s answer is to ‘defund’ and ‘dismantle’ the police,” Abbott says in the ad.
While on the campaign trail, O’Rourke said he wants to ensure police departments have the necessary training, resources, and funding.
Both ads come as Democratic candidates down the ballot are closing the gap between their Republican opponents, according to polling.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 8, and early voting in the state starts on October 24.
Kennedy is a recent graduate of the University of St.Thomas in Houston where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Celt Independent. Kennedy brings her experience of writing about social justice issues to the Texas Signal where she serves as our Political Reporter. She does everything from covering crime beats, Texas politics, and community activism. Kennedy is a passionate reporter, avid reader, coffee enthusiast, and loves to travel.
