Democrat Beto O'Rourke tours South Plains in bid for governor
Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke swung through the South Plains and Panhandle as part of his Drive for Texas campaign tour, making stops in Snyder, Lubbock, Muleshoe and Amarillo Thursday and Friday.
The tour, which kicked off in El Paso Tuesday, will have the former congressman driving more than 5,000 miles and visiting 65 counties over 49 days as O'Rourke tries to close his five-point deficit behind Gov. Greg Abbott.
On Thursday, O'Rourke and volunteers walked blocks and knocked on doors in Snyder before hosting a town hall meeting at the Scurry County Library. Supporters and skeptics showed up to the event, with a few wearing their Trump apparel. O'Rourke stressed the need to work together to find common ground.
"If you've got a question, if you've got a comment, if you've got an idea, I'm all ears," O'Rourke told the crowd there. "We do not have to agree, and sometimes it's even better when we don't. The folks who are for me, those who are against me, those who have yet to make up their mind — the fact that you are here is a testament that our democracy can still work."
After the stop in Snyder, O'Rourke held a rally and town hall in Lubbock, where he filled a room at the Science Spectrum museum with more than 800 people.
"I cannot tell you how happy this makes me to see each and every single one of you coming out on a beautiful Thursday to join in with your fellow Texans to make sure that we're standing up for this state and our country at its moment of truth," O'Rourke told those gathered. "This is not only what democracy looks like. This is what winning the governor's race on Nov. 8 looks like. It looks like all of you."
In Lubbock, where no one showed up to protest, O'Rourke touched on the main tenets of his campaign, including abortion access, fixing the power grid, enacting "common-sense gun laws" and taking care of Texas teachers. He also suggested reforming the Permanent University Fund, which directs revenue from land and mineral assets across the state to the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems.
"We think it's absolutely unfair that the mineral wealth of West Texas funds the largest endowment in the United States of America at the University of Texas at Austin," O'Rourke said. "As long as we're generating all of this wealth here in West Texas and the South Plains, let's make sure that more of it comes back the endowment here at Texas Tech, at West Texas A&M, at our community colleges, at other institutions of higher learning."
In Muleshoe Friday morning, O'Rourke met with members of the chamber of commerce ahead of a town hall at the Bailey County Electric Co-op building, followed by lunch at Leal's Mexican Food Café, a Muleshoe staple.
Like in Snyder, followers and fault-finders alike gathered to hear O'Rourke's pitch, which focused on issues unique to rural Texas — broadband internet access, rural healthcare and an acute teacher shortage, among others. O'Rourke reminded the 80 or so attendees that their votes matter, even in a deeply red part of Texas.
"We may not win Bailey County. We can win more votes in Bailey County. Every one of those votes that we win goes all the way up to the top of the ticket and determines whether we win statewide," O'Rourke said.
O'Rourke told reporters in Muleshoe that the key to winning votes in typically-Republican, rural parts of the state is to listen to the needs of individual voters and their communities.
"I listen to the community," O'Rourke said. "And that's not only my philosophy as we campaign; it's what I want to do as governor. I want to partner with communities — you tell me what's most important to you."
"I think it becomes most about whether you seek to listen to and understand the people that you want to serve, "O'Rourke said. "I don't think the letter (by my name) matters so much."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Democrat Beto O'Rourke tours South Plains in bid for governor
