O’rourke nets $7.2M but short of Abbott
Democrat Beto O’rourke had a big fundraising start to his campaign for governor, but Gov. Greg Abbott still has a sizable financial advantage over him.
The latest campaign finance reports made public this week show O’rourke’s raised $7.2 million in just about six weeks for his campaign for governor. While a big haul, it is still well behind Abbott, who reported raising another $18 million in the second half of 2021 and now has over $65 million in his campaign account.
Still O’rourke on Wednesday said that he’s confident he can beat Abbott this year. He said his close race in 2018 for the U.S. Senate, coupled with missteps by Abbott over the last year, give him a real chance. He said Abbott’s mismanagement of the electricity grid and the “extreme right” agenda he pushed through the Legislature are reasons for his optimism.
“There is a very very big opening that the governor has created,” O’rourke said at a meeting with the San Antonio Express-news editorial board.
Meanwhile in Austin on Wednesday, Abbott was making a strong economic case as to why he should be re-elected to a third term in office. At a meeting of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, Abbott touted the state’s strong economy under his watch.
He said Texas leads the nation in attracting corporate headquarters, and that has created jobs.
“More Texans have jobs than ever before in the history of our great state,” Abbott said.
But before Abbott and O’rourke can face each other, they have to first get through primary battles. O’rourke faces four other Democrats in the March 1 Democratic primaries. None of those Democrats have raised more than $7,000 so far.
Abbott faces seven primary opponents including former State Sen. Don Huffines, who announced Monday that he had raised $12 million since entering the race last spring. Former Republican Party of Texas chairman Allen West has raised just short of $2 million for his campaign. Arlington comedian Chad Prather has raised just over $150,000 for his campaign. None of the other candidates have reported raising more than a few thousand dollars.