In a hotly contested primary season, Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott and Democratic former Congressman Beto O’Rourke have emerged as the frontrunners for the state’s governorship, setting the stage for a pivotal election in November.
Abbott, buoyed by endorsements from former President Donald Trump and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, secured his party’s nomination with relative ease. Meanwhile, O’Rourke, a well-known figure in Texas politics, is on a mission to break the Democratic drought in the governor’s mansion, with the last win for his party dating back nearly thirty years.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that Abbott surpassed the crucial 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff, allowing him to campaign for a third consecutive term. The results came in rapidly, showing Abbott with nearly 70 percent of the vote as ballots were still being counted.
Notably, Abbott’s primary opponents included businessman Don Huffines, who conceded defeat before the final numbers were announced, along with conservative commentator Chad Prather and former Texas GOP chair Allen West.
In Fort Worth, O’Rourke rallied his supporters, reflecting on his previous challenge against Republican Senator Ted Cruz in 2018, where he managed to flip Texas’s largest red county. “This group of people, and then some, are going to make me the first Democrat to be governor of the state of Texas since 1994,” he declared, rallying his base with a call to action: “This is on us. This is on all of us.”
The primary election marks the initial step in the 2022 campaign season. O’Rourke officially launched his gubernatorial campaign on November 15, 2021, with a promise to unify the state and move beyond what he deems the divisive politics of Abbott. “It is time for change,” he asserted in an interview with The Texas Tribune.
While O’Rourke previously ran for the presidency in 2020, his campaign was short-lived, but it laid the groundwork for his current bid. In his campaign materials, he has criticized Abbott’s stances on key issues such as abortion rights and gun policies, framing them as divisive and detrimental to Texas’s progress.
Abbott, in response, has been quick to brand O’Rourke as a proponent of socialism, warning that his policies would lead to increased crime rates and economic instability, claiming O’Rourke aims to defund the police and support open border initiatives that have led to a rise in fentanyl-related deaths. Abbott’s campaign spokesperson, Mark Miner, stated, “The last thing Texans need is President Biden’s radical liberal agenda coming to Texas under the guise of Beto O’Rourke.”
With the general election set for November 8, both candidates prepare for an intense battle that could reshape Texas’s political landscape.
Harry Lee and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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