Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defeats Beto O'Rourke to win third term

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott easily defeated Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke Tuesday night, claiming a "resounding victory" on his way to a third term.

"So now it's time to go to work towards all of those people as well as for all Texas, and it starts by keeping Texas as the No. 1 state for the best economy in America and the No. 1 state for jobs," Abbott told a cheering crowd at a restaurant in the South Texas city of McAllen.

Abbott was declared the winner by The Associated Press just before 10 p.m. Earlier, ABC News, NBC News and Fox News projected victory for the incumbent.

With nearly all the vote counted at 10:45 p.m., Abbott was winning 57.3% of the vote, compared to 41.5% for O'Rourke. That's a wider margin than Abbott's victory over Democrat Lupe Valdez in 2018.

Abbott, who who turns 65 on Sunday, campaigned aggressively on his efforts to secure Texas' border with Mexico. He sought to tie O'Rourke to the Democratic Biden administration's immigration policies that polls showed played well across the Lone Star State.

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In his 12-minute speech, timed to lead the 10 p.m. local newscasts across the state, Abbott promised to continue his conservative stewardship of state government that included continued focus on border security and support for law enforcement.

And with the state facing a projected $27 billion surplus, Abbott promised to "use that to give our property owners the largest property tax cut in the history of Texas."

O'Rourke, a former three-term congressman from El Paso, had campaigned feverishly to wrest away the reigns of power from Abbott in his bid to be the first Democrat to win the Governor's Mansion since Ann Richards in 1990.

In defeat, O'Rourke offered no regrets for his challenge to Abbott, saying GOP efforts to curtail voting rights and limit reproductive choice has put "democracy at risk." He said that he owed to his three school-age children to "put every ounce of time" into the campaign.

"We know that at some point or other, we will face their judgment for what we do or what we failed to do at a moment of truth like this" he told supporters at the rally in his hometown of El Paso.

Both candidates entered the race well known, and as the campaign progressed, both were well funded. Combined, they raised around $180 million to spread their message across the Texas.

More than hours after the scheduled 7 p.m. poll closing in most of the state, Abbott was carrying a 54-44% lead over his challenger. The incumbent's strength was rooted in Texas' vast rural stretches and in many of the state's mid-size cities such as Corpus Christi, Waco and Amarillo.

O'Rourke, 50, built solid leads in most of the state's urban centers, just as he did four years ago in his narrow statewide loss to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. But some of those margins were lagging behind his 2018 showing. In 2018, he narrowly won Tarrant County, the state's largest county that had remained Republican in previous elections. But returns showed it returning the GOP column with Abbott ahead by 4 percentage points.

O'Rourke and the down-ballot Democrats were holding their historic advantage in the large counties along the Rio Grande but sometimes by less impressive margins than in past elections.

The Abbott campaign had made no secret of its desire to slash the Democrat's structural advantage in South Texas.

If his lead holds, Abbott's victory further cements Texas' position as the largest reliably Republican state and reinforces what's become a running truism that the only battle in statewide races is the Republican primary.

"National tailwinds hurting Democrats helped Texas Republicans navigate easily to another set of statewide wins," said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor. "A bad economy left a sour taste in the mouths of most voters and those economic concerns spiked fears about immigration and border security. Texas Democrats just weren’t able to blunt the impact."

National political analyst Larry Sabato, who heads the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said even without the drag of the unpopular Biden, neither O'Rourke or any Texas Democrat has found the key that might unlock the GOP's stranglehold on the state.

"It's just it's nearly impossible to get a Democrat elected statewide to anything, even a lower elected position," said national political analyst Larry Sabato, who heads the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. "Republicans just think they can't lose because their only battle is in the primary. That's what they worry about."

John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.

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This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Texas election results: Governor Greg Abbott beats Beto O'Rourke