Is this the same Beto? He rips Greg Abbott over schools, high taxes and utility bills
Beto O’Rourke probably won’t beat Greg Abbott.
But his relentless campaigning and prodigious fundraising might help other Democrats win, and that would be a victory for what essentially has become the Beto Party.
Either outspoken Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick or controversy-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton would be ripe to be picked off by an opponent. They would have close races — if Democratic challengers Mike Collier and Rochelle Garza were not near-unknowns.
The harder O’Rourke runs, the better the chances for other Democrats, even if Abbott is able to win based on anti-Washington votes in a midterm election cycle where Republicans have won similar past Texas elections by an average of 23%.
We saw the first peek at Abbott’s fall strategy last week.
His billboards show O’Rourke’s face morphing into President Joe Biden’s with the message: “Open Borders — $5 For a Gallon of Gas — Dangerous Criminals Walk Free — CRT Over ABCs” — #TeamBido.”
(“CRT” is campaign shorthand for ”critical race theory,” the academic study of how racism and bigotry affect America.)
O’Rourke responded with a $28 million fundraising report and yet another completely different message from his longstanding focus on abortion and gun laws.
“We want to focus on public schools,” he began a WFAA/Channel 8 interview on “Inside Texas Politics,” at wfaa..com/politics.
Speaking the morning of his state Democratic convention speech Friday night, O’Rourke moved his message toward education, high taxes and high utility bills, all important to the suburban voters that he wants to win over.
O’Rourke said his 49-day “Drive for Texas” state tour July 19-Sept. 7 will be about “having the backs of our public school educators — paying them enough that they don’t have to take a second or third job,” and about reducing the cost of living.
(The barnstorming tour will stop in Bowie July 26, Cleburne and Mineral Wells Aug. 10 and Decatur Aug. 11.)
On WFAA, O’Rourke said the leading cause of inflation is “Greg Abbott.”
“Property taxes have gone up $20 million in the seven years he’s been governor,” O’Rourke said — “that’s a 40% increase.
“On average, our utility bills are going up 45 bucks a month. And the power grid failed, in the energy capital of the world.”
He also blamed higher grocery costs on Abbott’s short-lived delay of shipments from Mexico.
(That’s a stretch.)
Sounding more like a populist than in his 2018 campaign for U.S. Senate, O’Rourke made audacious promises: “We’re gonna reduce property taxes — reduce energy bills — and make it more affordable to live and raise your family right here in the state of Texas.”
O’Rourke repeated that he wants “world-class schools” and expanded Medicaid benefits so poor people can see a doctor the way they do in most states.
Then he circled back to his earlier campaign message.
“The contrast is with Greg Abbott, who’s tried to outlaw abortion and tried to make sure than every Texan can carry a gun without a background check or any vetting or training whatsoever,” O’Rourke said.
He said Texas’ governor is “on the fringe and extreme spectrum of our politics right now.”
In his speech later Friday, O’Rourke, 49, said Abbott, 64, is “chaos.”
“He is corruption. He is cruelty. And he is incompetence,” O’Rourke said, again pointing to Texas’ utility failures and Abbott’s campaign contributions from “pipeline CEOS or energy traders.”
Exactly.
O’Rourke is facing a daunting opponent with a giant bank account and more money anytime he needs it, particularly from Texas’ oil, gas and energy wealth.
But O’Rourke, already facing a lawsuit over criticism of Dallas energy billionaire Kelcy Warren, is trying to use Abbott’s campaign wealth against him.
“I may not have the billionaires or the corporations but we’ve got everyday Texans,” he said.
(That’s been Texas Democrats’ message for decades. They lost.)
At the University of North Texas, political science Professor Kimi Lynn King said O’Rourke had to change his campaign.
“The Biden administration is already tanking,” she wrote by email, and Democrats are at risk of losing big.
With new voting restrictions, ‘Democrats are already facing a world that looks more like 1963 than 2023,” she wrote. “Guns and abortion are already mobilizing the population that is going to turn out for those issues.”
If the No. 1 issue is the economy, she wrote, “What’s Beto got? A whole lot of high gas prices and out-of-control inflation.”
No other Texas Democrat would have a chance. Maybe not even O’Rourke.
This story was originally published July 17, 2022 at 9:00 AM.
