O’Rourke Said Texas is Not a Red State but a Non-voting State

Beto O'Rourke in DentonScreenshot from Twitter

In front of the 1,000 people in Denton, Texas that is outside of Dallas, Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke campaigned on his 49-day Drive For Texas in front of 1,000 local residents at the Denton Civic Center.

O’Rourke said:

“Texas is not a red state. Texas is a non-voting state.”

Despite about 11.3 million voters (67% of registered voters in Texas) showing up for the November 2020 presidential election, only about 1.4 million (8.75%) showed up at the polls in November 2021, according to the Texas secretary of state database.

He added that some of the low voter turnouts had to do with Texas being the No. 1 state for voter suppression and intimidation in the country.

When compared to the 2020 presidential election, O’Rourke said Governor Greg Abbott was a character from 1984 or The Handmaid’s Tale. He said Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick doesn’t focus on infrastructure and refuses to fix the foster care system. O’Rourke wants to lower property taxes for all voters and protect schoolchildren from mass shooters who aren’t old enough to buy cigarettes or alcohol.

O’Rourke told the audience:

“These are some of — if not the most — dark days in the history of this state, at least during our lifetimes. The attacks that we are under, our freedoms that we cherish, the protections that we thought once were guaranteed have been removed by those in the highest positions of power and public trust.”

“But the action of being together, of deciding that we’re not on the sidelines and we are in the game, this is a government of, for, and by the people… We are in the fight of our lives and are literally fighting for the lives of our fellow Texans.”

“Not only are we in the fight of our lives, but we’re going to fight like hell. We’re going to give them hell. We’re going to win this election on November 8. We’re going to do it for each other. We’re going to do it for Texas. We’re going to come through."

Why do you think some Texans don't vote?