Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, made the last push this weekend in his effort to unseat incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. He spoke with TPR about the race, the early voting turnouts, ensuring every vote is counted and how to deal with election deniers.
Before finalizing this report, TPR also reached out to the Abbott campaign with the offer for equal time to discuss the race and to react to O'Rourke's comments. It did not respond to TPR's request for comment.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Davies asked the O'Rourke about how he felt during the final days of the race.
O'Rourke: We've just finished knocking on doors in San Antonio and literally getting to talk to the people who still have a chance to vote and decide. The outcome of this election is about as energizing as it gets for me. Because you're not on the sidelines. You're not hoping or praying. You're not waiting. You're not listening to some consultant telling you how you're going to do or some pollster predicting the outcome of this election. You are making it happen.
And I also get to join these tens of thousands of volunteers who are doing the same thing all over the State of Texas -- great people who are doing it with us. Nothing I'd rather be doing.
Davies: The numbers are in for the early voting in Texas — not as strong as it was four years ago when you ran for Senate against Ted Cruz. Where are the early voters?
O'Rourke: I don't know. I don't know enough about the numbers or the breakdown of those numbers to be able to say or to tell.
But I think it's safe to say that it's almost impossible to predict anything with certainty these days, given the number of, for example, Republicans who would come up to me at events like the one I just had, who will tell me "I've never voted for a Democrat before in my life. But this extreme abortion ban under Greg Abbott or the 23 weeks that have passed since those 19 children and two teachers were killed in Uvalde -- the fact that nothing's been done to make that any less likely in any other school, in any other part of Texas. I'm voting for you this time."
And so I know that there is a strong hunger for change right now in the State of Texas. And after eight years of Abbott -- eight years of failure -- I think we're going to see a lot of voters voting for that change in the election.
Davies: Election denying is now an official part of the Texas Republican Party's platform. It's a plank in their statewide GOP platform that President Biden is an illegitimate president. So if you win, do you anticipate an orchestrated campaign to deny you that victory in saying that that win is not legitimate, and then the Republican Party using the courts to try to keep you from actually becoming governor?
O'Rourke: We're going to make sure that every vote is counted and this election is freely and fairly decided. We have the backs of every voter out there, anyone who meets any form of intimidation or suppression. We want them to get in touch with us, as they have been doing, and we want to make sure that we make it possible for them to help decide the outcome of this election. And then when that election is decided, we've got to make sure that we honor the results.
So, we are in this fight for as long as it takes, as far as it goes to make sure that the will of the voters is honored. And once in office, we bring back together a deeply divided state, Republicans and Democrats alike, to make sure that we get the job done for our fellow Texans.
That's the history of Texas. Four years ago, when I came very close to unseating Ted Cruz, when it became obvious that the math would just not work on election night, there weren't enough votes left for us to overcome his lead, I picked up the phone. I called Sen. Cruz. I conceded the election. He accepted the concession. He gave his victory speech. I gave my concession speech, and we honored the results of that election.
That's what we need to do in every election going forward. And unfortunately, Greg Abbott and the Republican Party now no longer officially believe in the democratic process or in the right to vote. But the people of Texas have something to say about that, and they will on Nov. 8, this coming Tuesday.
