Dems’ escape is a boon for Beto
Whether Beto O’Rourke is ready to run for governor or not, the Texas House Democrats’ fight over voting rights has already given him a springboard if he decides to take the plunge.
Over the past several weeks, the former presidential candidate from El Paso has been their biggest promoter, holding fundraisers with celebrities, co-organizing a 1960s-style civil rights march with prominent national leaders, and writing big checks to cover expenses for the Texas House and Senate Democrats who fled to Washington, D.C. to stop an elections bill.
It has all given O’Rourke a new boost of national media interviews and political relevance at a critical time for statewide candidates in Texas to build momentum if they are going to have a shot in an election cycle that starts faster than in most states because of the early primaries in March.
“They are keeping the coals hot on issues like election reform and redistricting, which Beto would try to leverage in 2022,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor.
While Democratic activists are pushing O’Rourke to get into the governor’s race, he insists he’s not thinking about that right now and is focused on fighting the elections bills Texas Republicans are trying to pass.
Working with Willie Nelson and others, he has sent more than $600,000 to subsidize the Democrats’ two-week-long quorum break that has them in D.C. pushing for federal voting rights legislation. And O’Rourke said more is coming, as he plans to wire more donations to them soon. The
Democrats are marking the halfway point of their holdout today.
“They’ve captured the attention of the country and — I think and I hope — galvanized the conscience of those who have the power to pass voting rights legislation,” O’Rourke said.
For as much as Republicans have laughed off O’Rourke after his presidential campaign floundered in 2019, his ability to raise money is a serious concern. Last month Abbott held a telephone fundraising call with supporters and donors , and talked about why O’Rourke came so close in his race against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018.
“You need to also understand why it is that someone as socialistic as Beto O’Rourke got within two percentage points of beating Ted Cruz,” Abbott said, according to the Dallas Morning News, which first reported the meeting. “The way he did it. He raised $80 million.”
Campaign finance reports show Abbott raised over $18.7 million in the week after that fundraising call and now has $55 million in his main campaign account for the 2022 election cycle.
Abbott has already drawn at least two significant Republican primary challengers for 2022. Former Florida Congressman Allen West and former Texas state Sen. Don Huffines have both announced they are running against him.
No major Democrats have announced for the race yet, with party officials acknowledging O’Rourke will get all the time he needs to decide.
O’Rourke has previously said he’s considering running but hasn’t offered a timetable for that decision.
O’Rourke said he was cheering from home, watching the Texas House livestream back in May when lawmakers first walked out, and has been in close contact with them ever since.
“I think they have really energized so many here in Texas who wanted to know that someone was willing to fight for them, and fight with everything they have and putting everything dear to them on the line,” O’Rourke said.
What O’Rourke is doing is a rarity in Texas politics, an arena where few are willing to pitch in without getting payback, said state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio.
“He’s built an authentic platform with a lot of Texans and put it to good use to help us,” he said.
State Rep. Armando Walle, DHouston, said the donations that O’Rourke has been sharing have been a big morale boost. He said seeing so many Texans giving small donations to help the cause has lifted spirits as the Democrats in D.C. push ahead.
“It’s meant the world to us,” Walle said. “It’s been a shot in the arm.”
Yet while O’Rourke may not be looking for an immediate tradeoff, he still benefits in a big way from what the House Democrats have done.
Rottinghaus said the Democrats’ battle over voting rights has teed up the very issues that O’Rourke would want to talk about on a campaign for governor.
“Now all they need is for him to step into the tee box,” Rottinghaus said.
It all had O’Rourke on MSNBC’s highest-rated program, The Rachel Maddow Show, this week promoting a 27-mile march from Georgetown to Austin next week that he said is inspired by the Texas House Democrats.
“We wanted to make sure that while they are fighting this urgent, necessary fight in D.C., that we open up another front in this battle,” he said.
Since O’Rourke’s 2018 U.S. Senate campaign ended, he’s built a political action committee called Powered By People that he’s made a vehicle for registering voters and providing more access to the ballot box for more Texans. He used it in 2020 to register voters and also funnel donations to Democratic candidates hoping to win nine seats and flip control of the Texas House from Republicans to Democrats.
O’Rourke’s staying power has been more than welcomed by Texas Democrats, who have seen past statewide candidates fade quickly after losing their elections. And there is no question as to whether he can still raise big money that none of his peers can match.
While candidates for 2022 have to file by December to get on the ballot, when the 2022 primaries will be is in some question. That election is scheduled for March 1 but could be pushed back to April or even May by the Legislature depending on when the state’s congressional and legislative districts can be redrawn based on new census data. The census data will not be released to states until Aug. 16, the Census Bureau says, preventing states from doing the mandated redrawing in the meantime.