Texas Primaries Pit Gov. Greg Abbott Against Former Presidential Candidate Beto O’Rourke

Former Democratic congressman, Senate candidate, and Democratic presidential primary candidate Robert Francis ‘Beto’ O’Rourke will face incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott in the Texas governor’s election.

QUICK FACTS:
  • Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former El Paso Democratic representative Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke will face off in the November election, according to The Epoch Times.
  • Abbott took the Republican primary with a large margin after receiving endorsements from former President Donald Trump and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
  • The Associated Press reported that Abbott got more than 50% of the votes, despite multiple challenges, and avoided a runoff. 
  • Abbott faced businessman Don Huffines, conceding defeat to the governor before the results were officially in, as well as conservative commentator Chad Prather, and former chairman of the Texas GOP Allen West.
  • O’Rourke also easily won his primary, according to The Epoch Times, and hopes to be the first Democratic governor of Texas in nearly three decades.
  • The Democrat spoke to supporters in Fort Worth, which is in a district he reportedly flipped from red to blue in the 2018 Senate election saying, “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. This is on us. This is on all of us.”
TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL RACE:
  • Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is headed to a runoff election in May against fellow Republican George P. Bush as The Houston Chronicle reported.
  • According to CBS Local DFW, the polling data still shows Paxton with a solid lead over Bush. With 93% of the state’s precincts reporting showing that Paxton had about 42.7% while Bush had 22.8% of the vote.
  • There were two other Republicans no longer in the running; former state Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman and current Texas District 1 Rep. Louie Gohmert.
BACKGROUND:
  • When O’Rourke, who most recently dropped out of the Democratic presidential primaries before they came to a vote, announced his campaign in November of last year he asserted that Texas needs a governor “that serves everyone, helps to bring this state together to do the really big things before us and get past the small, divisive politics and policies of Greg Abbott,” he said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. “It is time for change.”
  • Abbott responded saying the El Paso Democrat wants to “impose socialism,” and that the gubernatorial candidate would defund the police, kill oil jobs and allow open borders as well as support a gun grab.
  • “From Beto O’Rourke’s reckless calls to defund the police to his dangerous support of the Biden Administration’s pro-open border policies, which have resulted in thousands of fentanyl deaths, Beto O’Rourke has demonstrated he has more in common with President Biden than he does with Texans,” Abbott campaign spokesperson Mark Miner said in a statement. “The last thing Texans need is President Biden’s radical liberal agenda coming to Texas under the guise of Beto O’Rourke.”

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