After months of speculation, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke announced Monday that he will run for governor of Texas in 2022.
O’Rourke previously lost his campaign for the U.S. presidency in 2020 and Texas senator against Ted Cruz in 2018. But he has polled somewhat closely to Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott and is unlikely to face a significant challenger in the Democratic primary.
“The fringe policies and incompetence that we see in Texas today — on masks, on abortion, on guns, on schools, on the electricity grid — are symptoms of a larger problem,” O’Rourke said in a statement obtained by the Washington Examiner. “Our leaders have stopped listening to the people they were elected to serve. They don’t trust Texans and so they aren’t able to move forward on what the people of Texas want, like better jobs and safe communities.”
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O’Rourke told Texas Monthly in an interview that he considered the current Texas governor a failed governor.
“I want to serve this state and try to bring the people of Texas together to do some of the really big work that is before us and get past this smallness and divisiveness that Greg Abbott has brought to Texas,” he told Texas Monthly. “I don’t know how much any candidate is going to have to do to convince the people of Texas that Greg Abbott has failed them as governor.”
The last time a Democrat won a statewide office in Texas was 1994. But recent polling data suggest that Abbott may be vulnerable. A poll from September found that only 45% of Texans had a favorable view of him. But a poll in October showed Abbott leading O’Rourke 46% to 37%.
“We are losing the big, bold vision that used to define Texas, a Texas big enough for all of us,” O’Rourke said in his campaign announcement. “Big enough for our dreams and big enough to make them happen. We’ve been offered something small, mean and uninspiring in its place.”
Abbott is currently facing several Republican primary challenges, including from state Sen. Don Huffines and former Rep. Allen West.
“By one report, seven hundred people were killed due to his mismanagement of the power grid,” he told Texas Monthly. “The average Texas teacher is paid ten thousand dollars less than the national average. Our schools and our kids are underfunded in their education.”
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In a statement, the Republicans Governor’s Association blasted O’Rourke’s bid for the Texas governorship, saying that Texas voters have already rejected him and that they will do so again because they know how “radical” he is.
“Beto 2.0 vowed to confiscate the firearms of law-abiding citizens, pledged to tear down physical barriers along the border, and supported regulations that would kill over a million jobs across the state and raise taxes and the cost of living on families and small businesses,” said RGA spokeswoman Joanna Rodriguez. “There’s no telling how far Beto 3.0 will go in his vain attempt to stay relevant after running out of promotions to chase in Washington.”
O’Rourke is not the only high-profile person that has been speculation to enter the race for Texas governor.
Actor Matthew McConaughey has publicly suggested he might enter the race.
