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Beto O'Rourke Announces His Candidacy For Texas Governor

Brett Lake
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Courtesy: Beto O'Rourke Facebook

TX GOV RACE - Former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke announced yesterday that he's running for Governor of the Lone Star State. The El Paso Democrat spoke with public media’s The Texas Standard yesterday. O’Rourke is casting himself as a unifier in his campaign for governor and accused Republican incumbent Greg Abbott of exploiting divisive political issues.

"The Governor's got us focused on things like praying that the electricity grid is going to work this winter or deciding which middle school girls can play which athletic sport or this abortion ban that puts a bounty on the heads of Texas women," O’Rourke said.

Beto O’Rourke trails Governor Greg Abbott in a poll taken before he entered the race, but political science professor Brian Smith of St. Edward’s University in Austin points out that O’Rourke is challenging Abbott at a time when the incumbent has never been more politically vulnerable.

Abbott Facebook
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Courtesy: Gov Abbott Facebook
Governor Greg Abbott (R)

“He wouldn’t enter the race unless he thought Abbott was beatable,” Smith explained. “And the best way to determine that is to look at Abbott’s popularity. He’s underwater right now. So that gives Beto an opportunity to say if Abbott doesn’t get more popular, I don’t have to be super popular; I just have to be more popular than Abbott.”

O'Rourke also ran in the last Democratic presidential primary and lost a close race for US Senate against Republican Ted Cruz in 2018. Meanwhile, the incumbent Governor Abbott has released a statement saying he welcomes O' Rourke's challenge. O’Rourke has more than a week’s worth of campaign events scheduled across the state.