After abandoning his presidential bid, former Congressman and failed candidate Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke is turning his attention to the Texas Legislature, urging his followers to send in cash to turn the Texas House blue.
In a post on Twitter, O’Rourke urged his 1.7 million followers to donate to Blue Action Democrats’ “FLIP the Texas House” project, a self-described effort dedicated to “getting sh*t done” and turning out Democrat voters to flip seats in both the U.S. Congress and the Texas House of Representatives.
Last year 17 TX State House Republicans won their election by less than 10 points. We can flip these seats by reaching un-registered Democrats. Your donation will be used to send them pre-filled voter registration forms w/ stamped return envelope. https://t.co/TpZ04xCHaj
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) December 1, 2019
After failing to defeat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, O’Rourke did not shy away from far-left positions during his short-lived run for the presidency, advocating for government-run taxpayer-funded healthcare, open borders, and even the forceful confiscation of firearms from law-abiding Americans.
But while those positions would have seemed extreme even to most Democrats just several years ago, the party’s marked lunge to the extreme left during the Trump presidency has made those positions the norm, rather than the exception, among many rank-and-file Democrat candidates up and down the ballot. Should Democrats get back control of the Texas House, he argued, those same policies could come to the Lone Star State.
“We win nine seats in the TX legislature, Dems will have a majority,” O’Rourke stated. “That means an end to racist gerrymandering, a chance to address gun violence, reproductive rights, Medicaid expansion, & climate change in Texas.”
Meanwhile, the Republican Party of Texas—which has recently enlisted the help of Karl Rove to lead its 2020 effort—has expressed concerns about the upcoming election due, in part, to the “polarizing nature” of President Donald Trump and the end of straight-ticket voting, according to a strategy document a Republican staffer accidentally sent to Texas Democrats.
O’Rourke will not be on the ballot himself in 2020, barring a potential last-minute run against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn. Despite that, however, it is clear that he will continue his campaign to turn Texas blue.
