It appears that Beto O’Rourke is attempting to stage a comeback in the Lonestar State, but the people are not having it.
In 2018, when Beto ran against Sen. Ted Cruz, Beto he was touted as the Great Blue Hope that will start turning Texas Democrat.
“Texas Gov. Abbott’s lead over Democratic challenger O’Rourke is narrowing,” NPR reported on Monday, arguing that “an abortion ban and the school shooting in Uvalde may have shifted the odds in the governor’s race.”
Just as in 2018 with Cruz, O’Rourke may be narrowing the polls, but that’s only because he’s coming from a long way down and they aren’t narrowing by much.
According to RealClearPolitics’ aggregate data, Abbott still held a 6 percentage point lead as of Tuesday morning — and the numbers have been consistent since surveying began last summer. Just because the last poll that had Abbott up by double-digit numbers was a University of Texas survey in April doesn’t exactly mean O’Rourke charging hard toward the governor’s mansion, particularly in a Republican-friendly year.
It also doesn’t mean Texas is turning blue, or even purple. O’Rourke found this out the hard way during a Friday visit to Rockdale, a town 40 miles west of College Station. The city was part of his “Drive for Texas” tour — where, according to Waco’s KWKT-TV, “he will spend 49 days on the road and visit every part of Texas this summer.”
“O’Rourke has spent a lot of time in very red areas on this 49-day road trip like Milam county, despite not being very popular in these areas,” KWKT said of the Saturday event.
Yeah, you’re telling me. This is what Beto and his campaign wanted you to see from the Rockdale event:
Met dozens of first-time voters at yesterday’s three town halls in Bastrop, Brenham, and Rockdale!
Great to see so many people getting registered and involved. pic.twitter.com/2vq1ZHzGdz
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) August 6, 2022
Rockdale on a Friday night! One of the best town halls we’ve had.
This is why we show up for everyone, everywhere. pic.twitter.com/YkG2Gzmsg4
— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) August 6, 2022
However, the visit turned into one of those “How it started/How it’s going” memes once Beto moved outside the campaign-controlled confines of Rockdale’s Kay Theatre.
Human Events senior editor Jack Posobiec tweeted a video of the scene:
BREAKING: Beto just got run out of Rockdale, Texaspic.twitter.com/JHSV1FwIsV
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) August 8, 2022
The video of Beto leaving the hall with police officers acting as escorts while a group of Abbott supporters with placards follow him to his pickup truck (an electric or a hybrid, I’m sure). They’re essentially running him out of town to the tune of Kid Rock’s “We the People.”
“We the people in all we do / Reserve the right to scream ‘f*** you / ‘Wear your mask, take your pills’ / Now a whole generation’s mentally ill,” the lyrics to Mr. Rock’s anti-Biden anthem read. The chorus? “We the people (ooh, let’s go, Brandon).”
Posobiec wasn’t the only one to notice the dissonance between this scene and the whole “boy that Beto’s making a race of this one” narrative being peddled.
Beto O’Rourke got run out of Rockdale, Texas.
Does actually think they’ll elect him Governor? 😂
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 8, 2022
Protesters greeting Beto in Rockdale, Texas. This dude will be unemployed in late November. pic.twitter.com/JKcyGo8Gjs
— The W&J Show w/ Kenny Webster (@WaltonNJohnson) August 8, 2022