Juntos Se Puede: Beto O'Rourke, civil rights leader Dolores Huerta team up for South Texas tour

Ashlee Burns, Corpus Christi Caller Times
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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke and American civil rights activist Dolores Huerta stopped in Robstown on Sunday as part of a two-day “Juntos Se Puede” tour.

The Robstown stop, held at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds, was one of four in South Texas this weekend.

O’Rourke, an El Paso native, seeks to unseat Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in the Nov. 8 election. He represented Texas’ 16th congressional district from 2013 to 2019 and fell short in his campaign for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke laugh at a joke at a "Juntos Se Puede" campaign event at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas, on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022.
Labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke laugh at a joke at a "Juntos Se Puede" campaign event at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas, on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022.

O’Rourke was joined by American labor leader Huerta, 92, as well Planned Parenthood Texas Votes PAC, Texas Organizing Project PAC and State Tejano Democrats. The joint rally followed Beto’s early morning run in downtown Corpus Christi.

A crowd circled around O’Rourke as he pledged to increase teacher salaries, suspend the STAAR assessment, and appoint a public school teacher as the next TEA commissioner.

As governor, O’Rourke promised legalized marijuana, $10 billion to expand Medicaid, and improvements to the state’s power grid.

He took three questions from the crowd about healthcare for veterans, climate change and the barriers to healthcare for transgender people. The candidate suggested a full-service veterans hospital and recognized the Texas couple who advocated for veterans suffering from burn pit exposure.

Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic candidate for Texas governor, speaks at a campaign event at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas, on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022.
Beto O'Rourke, the Democratic candidate for Texas governor, speaks at a campaign event at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas, on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022.

Many of the speakers at the rally expressed concern about gun regulation after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde that killed 19 students and two teachers.

Only weeks into the 2022-23 school year, several Corpus Christi-area schools have gone into lockdown after children and teens brought guns to school, including two Moody High School students who now face charges, a Calallen High School student who was detained and a 4-year-old who brought a loaded gun to class.

Despite attributing mass shootings to mental health issues, Abbott cut nearly $211 million from the Health and Human Services Commission in April to fund Operation Lone Star, making Texas the last out of all 50 states in an overall ranking of access to mental health care.

“If we… fail to address the fact that an 18-year-old can walk into a gun store and buy not one but two AR-15’s and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, then we’re going to end up with the same problem that we have today under Greg Abbott,” O’Rourke told the Caller-Times.

He pledged as governor to bring Democrats and Republicans to the table to create bipartisan solutions, such as raising the age to purchase AR-15’s from 18 to 21, universal background checks, and a red flag law to keep guns from those experiencing mental health crises.

“If we do those things, we’re going to save lives,” O’Rourke said. “The children that I met here today aren’t going to have to fear active shooters walking into their classrooms anymore.”

Beto O'Rourke supporters clap and wave a flag at a campaign event at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas, on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022.
Beto O'Rourke supporters clap and wave a flag at a campaign event at the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas, on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Beto O'Rourke and civil rights leader team up for Robstown rally