Beto O’Rourke, the previous U.S. congressman from Texas whose surprisingly shut 2018 loss to Senator Ted Cruz made him a Democratic star, stated on Monday he’ll problem Republican Greg Abbott in subsequent 12 months’s race for governor of the state.
O’Rourke has been seen as his social gathering’s best choice for the 2022 gubernatorial race even after his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination did not garner a lot assist amid a crowded discipline of candidates.
No Democrat has gained a statewide race in Texas, the second most populous U.S. state, in three a long time. Abbott, who’s dealing with two Republican challengers as properly, has amassed an unlimited marketing campaign struggle chest, with greater than $55 million as of June.
O’Rourke has spent a lot of the previous 12 months criticizing Abbott for his dealing with of a number of crises, together with the COVID-19 pandemic and a fierce winter storm that triggered the state’s electrical grid to fail and left a whole lot of Texans useless.
In an announcement video, O’Rourke blamed the state’s Republican-controlled authorities for mishandling the storm and argued that it was symptomatic of a bigger concern.
“These in place of public belief have stopped listening to, serving and listening to and trusting the folks of Texas,” O’Rourke stated