Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke has confirmed his plan to run for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2022 and challenge Greg Abbott, who will be seeking his third term. O'Rourke announced the plan Monday morning by releasing a video.
"Together, we can get back to being big again," O'Rourke said. "I saw that in February when the electricity grid failed and those in power failed all of us, it was the people of Texas who were willing to put their differences behind them and get to work doing the job at hand, which meant helping our fellow Texans get through that crisis."
O'Rourke says the blackouts in February showed a "symptom of a much larger problem" in Texas.
"Those in positions of public trust have stopped listening to, serving and paying attention to and trusting the people of Texas," O'Rourke said. "They're not focused on the things we really want them to do."
O'Rouke said those things include ensuring we have a functioning electric grid, job creation and ensuring "we have world class schools or that we make progress on the things most of us actually agree on like expanding Medicaid or legalizing marijuana."
The Republican Governors Association responded, saying "Beto O'Rourke isn't tired of losing." The organization says Texas voters rejected O'Rourke when he ran against Ted Cruz for U.S. Senate in 2018.
“Texas voters have already rejected Beto O’Rourke for statewide office, and they'll do so again now that they know just how radical he really is. Beto 2.0 vowed to confiscate the firearms of law-abiding citizens, pledged to tear down physical barriers along the border, and supported regulations that would kill over a million jobs across the state and raise taxes and the cost of living on families and small businesses. There's no telling how far Beto 3.0 will go in his vain attempt to stay relevant after running out of promotions to chase in Washington," RGA spokesperson Joanna Rodriguez wrote in a statement.
RGA says O'Rourke has previously pledged to "confiscate firearms through a mandated buyback of yet to be defined 'assault weapons.'
The group says O'Rourke has also pledged to tear down barriers along the southern border, revoke the tax-exempt status of any religious group that does not support same sex marriage, "eliminate over one million jobs and increase energy prices by 900% throughout Texas with the Green New Deal," and close rural hospitals by enacting a public healthcare option.
A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll released earlier this month showed Greg Abbott leading O'Rourke by 9 percentage points, 46%-37%.
The poll showed 43% of voters approve of Abbott's job performance while 48% disapprove. But the same poll showed just 35% of respondents have a positive opinion of O'Rourke; 50% reported a negative opinion.
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