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HOUSTON – Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman from El Paso who became the darling of Democrats after nearly defeating Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, approaches the announcement of a candidacy for governor of the Texas, according to three people who spoke to him.
In recent weeks, Mr. O’Rourke has called Texas Democratic leaders to let them know he is seriously considering facing Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who is running for reelection next year. And he started talking to his supporters to join his campaign team. A decision could be made in the coming weeks, the three people said, possibly as early as October.
Texas Democrats urged Mr. O’Rourke to jump into the gubernatorial race almost from the time he dropped out of the 2020 presidential race, a pipe-dream that stumbled early and failed. managed to gain ground in the middle of a crowded primary field.
But despite his struggles on the national stage, Mr. O’Rourke has maintained a deep source of support in Texas, where many Democrats still display the black-and-white Beto signs from the 2018 campaign on their lawns and on their cars.
Mr. O’Rourke did not respond to calls or text messages seeking comment.
David Wysong, Mr O’Rourke’s longtime adviser, warned that “no decision has been taken” on a candidate for governor. The three people who discussed their conversations with Mr O’Rourke are Democratic officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about conversations that were supposed to be private.
No Democrat has been elected governor of Texas since Ann Richards in 1990. And no prominent Democrat has emerged to face Mr. Abbott next year. The governor, who has amassed a war chest of more than $ 55 million, seemed more concerned with isolating himself from challengers to his right in a Republican primary than worrying about the general election.
But Democrats see a potential opening.
In recent months, Texas has rebounded from crisis to crisis – including an increase in pandemic deaths and a winter power grid outage – as Republican leaders in Austin have steered the state even further. right on issues ranging from guns to elections to abortion. In a poll last month, a majority of Texans told pollsters they believed the state was headed in the wrong direction.
Amid political turmoil, Mr. O’Rourke remained active in the state. “He didn’t just make statements, he knocked on doors, led marches, organized rallies across the state,” said Gilberto Hinojosa, chairman of the Texas Democratic Party.
Mr Hinojosa said the Supreme Court’s decision to let a tough new abortion law passed by the Texas legislature come into effect galvanized many Democrats in the state. The new law effectively prohibits the procedure after six weeks of pregnancy and is structured to avoid immediate legal challenge.
“All of this abortion legislation has incredibly changed the dynamic,” he said.
During the 2018 campaign, Mr. O’Rourke showed he was capable of energizing Democrats, raising large sums of money and campaigning aggressively across Texas, a vast and notoriously difficult place. to run a statewide campaign.
Even in the loss, his margin against incumbent Mr. Cruz – 51 to 48 percent – helped lift Democratic candidates in local races and led to gains in the state legislature that year. The prospect of Mr O’Rourke’s run against Mr Abbott – reported by Axios on Sunday – would present Democrats with the most important and direct test yet in their attempts to loosen the Republicans’ grip on power in Texas.
During his failed presidential run, Mr. O’Rourke has taken positions, including a hard line on assault weapon confiscation, that could make him vulnerable in any new campaign in Texas. “Okay, yeah, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” Mr. O’Rourke said during a Democratic debate in Houston in 2019, referring to the military-style rifles that were used in mass shootings.
David Carney, Mr Abbott’s campaign adviser and longtime Republican political consultant, said he would not be surprised if Mr O’Rourke got into the race.
“O’Rourke has been planning to show up since he was crushed in his presidential flop,” Mr Carney said. “It’s a target-rich environment with positions far removed from the mainstream.”
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