“But to do that you have to be aggressive and take large risks.” “If Beto can coax Abbott into a moment where there’s a stark difference on, say, gun control I think that can have a big impact,” said Jason Villalba, a former Republican state lawmaker. In the aftermath of the Uvalde shooting, O’Rourke has called to raise the minimum age to purchase such weapons to 21, something Abbott has already ruled out. In the governor’s race, O’Rourke has run a more attacking campaign but also has been forced to confront his past positions, none more than his promise to ban AR-15-style weapons during a Democratic presidential debate in 2019. He stunned both parties four years ago by finishing within 3 percentage points of unseating Republican Sen. Senate campaign in 2018, O’Rourke has spent months visiting nearly every corner of the almost 800-mile-wide state, driving into the most strongly Republican counties in an effort to weaken the wall of rural support that has helped the GOP offset losses in booming big cities and suburbs. To say O’Rourke has been here before would be true of just about anywhere in Texas. O’Rourke, shrugging off recent polls that showed him trailing, pointed to traditionally conservative Kansas rejecting an abortion ban and Democrats winning special congressional elections in New York and Alaska as a sign of a shift in the electorate heading into November’s midterms. The Uvalde school shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers has also elevated emotions in the race, with grieving parents scolding Abbott and O’Rourke swearing at a heckler who laughed over gun control. But as Texas Democrats also know, those same issues have failed to carry them in past elections.Ī new Texas abortion ban is threatening GOP support with women and has already caused stumbles for Abbott over unpopular restrictions that make no exceptions for rape victims. Like many Democrats running in November, O’Rourke is drawing on outrage over abortion access and mass shootings, issues that have energized voters elsewhere. “This game ain’t over yet, and we’ll see how close it is when all is said and done,” he told reporters this month. The Democrat emphasized that Abbott started running television spots before his campaign, which has pulled in at least $30 million and has put the two-term governor in the rare position of being outraised.Ībbott, who wants to stomp out Democrats’ latest attempt to flip America’s biggest Republican-led state, isn’t ready to say this may be his tightest race. “Here’s the way I see it: Most Texans are just beginning to tune into this election,” O’Rourke said in an interview. With early voting set to begin in just over three weeks, some O’Rourke supporters are looking for significant swings during the debate, which the former 2020 presidential candidate knows better than most can leave a lasting impression. That raises the stakes for O’Rourke on Friday night in his only debate against Abbott, who has tried to refocus the race to his hard-line immigration measures on the U.S.-Mexico border as anger in Texas over a new abortion ban and the Uvalde school massacre continues flaring.
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