Beto O’Rourke Announces Run for Texas Governor, Testing Democrats’ Strength

HOUSTON — Beto O’Rourke entered the contention for Texas politician connected Monday, challenging an ultraconservative and well-financed two-term Republican incumbent successful a long-shot bid to triumph an bureau Democrats past occupied successful 1995.

The accomplishment of Mr. O’Rourke instantly acceptable the signifier for a pitched governmental showdown adjacent November implicit the aboriginal of Texas astatine a clip erstwhile the authorities — with its expanding cities and diversifying colonisation — has appeared progressively up for grabs.

Mr. O’Rourke, the erstwhile El Paso congressman and 2020 Democratic statesmanlike candidate, has been a darling of Texas Democrats and enactment activists since his tally against Senator Ted Cruz successful 2018. Though he mislaid the Senate contention by astir 3 percent points, the information that helium came adjacent to unseating the incumbent Republican legislator transformed Mr. O’Rourke into a nationalist fig and convinced galore Democrats that the authorities was connected the cusp of turning blue.

His run hopes to rekindle that enthusiasm arsenic it tries to unseat Greg Abbott, the Republican politician seeking re-election to a 3rd term. One caller nationalist canvass recovered Mr. O’Rourke astir tied with Mr. Abbott successful a hypothetical lucifer up, and different showed him losing by 9 percent points.

“Those successful positions of nationalist spot person stopped listening to, serving and paying attraction to — and trusting — the radical of Texas,” Mr. O’Rourke said in a video announcing his run that was released connected Monday. He contrasted the “extremist policies” of Texas Republicans that person constricted termination and expanded weapon rights with positions that helium said helium would support, including expanding Medicaid and legalizing marijuana.

And the video sought to recapture the choler felt by Texans erstwhile the state’s powerfulness grid failed successful February. “It’s a grounds of a overmuch larger occupation that we person successful Texas close now,” helium said.

But Democrats person besides seen their communicative of governmental alteration successful Texas analyzable by the results of the 2020 election.

Former President Donald J. Trump carried the authorities by astir six points and gained crushed for Republicans among Hispanic voters successful the Democratic stronghold of the Rio Grande Valley. Republicans besides held the State House of Representatives contempt a concerted effort by Democrats to flip control. And Republicans person had an electoral fastener connected the governor’s mansion that has stretched for astir 3 decades. The past Democrat to service arsenic politician was Ann Richards, who won predetermination successful November 1990 and was successful bureau from January 1991 to January 1995.

The 2022 contention volition instrumentality spot against a nationalist backdrop that favors Republicans, including an system inactive struggling to rebound from the pandemic and a Democratic president whose popularity has been sinking. And aft his ain failed statesmanlike run, Mr. O’Rourke faces the situation of demonstrating to Texas voters that helium is focused connected the state’s issues and not connected the nationalist spotlight.

His advisers appeared to beryllium alert of the request to punctual voters of the actions Mr. O’Rourke has taken successful Texas, peculiarly aft the wintertime tempest that led to the devastating blackout successful February. Mr. O’Rourke solicited donations for tempest victims, organized wellness checks for seniors and delivered h2o from his pickup truck.

His organization, Powered by People, has besides helped to registry voters — astir 200,000 since precocious 2019, according to the run — and Mr. O’Rourke raised astir $700,000 to enactment Democrats successful the Texas House aft galore fled to Washington to artifact a restrictive caller voting measurement that yet passed.

He has besides utilized his level to propulsion for pandemic-related nationalist wellness measures similar those backed by section Democratic leaders successful Texas, a opposition to Mr. Abbott, who has banned mandates for masks oregon vaccines.

The connection of the campaign, his advisers said, is that Mr. O’Rourke has been determination for Texans portion Mr. Abbott has enactment his ain governmental ambition and the demands of Republican superior voters implicit the needs of mean people.

In the video, Mr. O’Rourke, who speaks fluent Spanish, made his announcement from the majority-Hispanic borderline metropolis of El Paso, wherever helium grew up and present lives.

Democrats had been urging Mr. O’Rourke to leap into the contention for months, and helium had begun to powerfully see doing truthful by precocious summertime as helium called astir to Democratic leaders successful the state. Apart from giving them a changeable astatine the governor’s mansion, Democrats are hoping that Mr. O’Rourke’s beingness astatine the apical of the summons volition summation turnout and assistance Democratic candidates successful down-ballot races crossed Texas.

With the predetermination a small little than a twelvemonth away, nary different large Democrat has jumped into the race, leaving Mr. Abbott’s advisers to see a scope of messages to onslaught Mr. O’Rourke arsenic excessively utmost for Texas. They are apt to absorption connected comments helium made astir guns and the borderline partition during the 2020 Democratic statesmanlike primary.

“Republicans didn’t request a batch of crushed to crook retired and person intensity, but this is going to foodstuff it,” said Matt Mackowiak, an Austin governmental advisor who is the president of the Republican Party successful Travis County, referring to Mr. O’Rourke’s entering the race. “It’s going to beryllium kryptonite for Democrats successful suburban areas, and it’s going to beryllium rocket substance for Republicans successful agrarian areas.”

Well earlier Mr. O’Rourke’s announcement, the governor’s run began releasing integer ads featuring montages of those statements, including 1 from a 2019 statement that has travel to specify what immoderate Texas governmental observers spot arsenic Mr. O’Rourke’s uphill conflict successful the state.

Takeaways From the 2021 Elections

“Hell yes, we’re going to instrumentality your AR-15, your AK-47,” Mr. O’Rourke said, to applause from the crowd.

At the time, his statesmanlike run promoted a garment with those words. His Texas run is apt to instrumentality a antithetic tack. Aides said Mr. O’Rourke was calling for an enlargement of inheritance checks.

Despite having ne'er won statewide successful Texas — nary Democrat has since 1994 — helium has remained 1 of the fewer Democrats with capable fund-raising prowess and statewide campaigning quality to instrumentality connected Mr. Abbott, a erstwhile Texas lawyer wide who has overseen a melodramatic crook to the close successful the authorities and commands a run warfare thorax of astir $60 million.

The eagerness among Democrats to find idiosyncratic to situation Mr. Abbott led to involvement successful seeing the histrion Matthew McConaughey leap into the race. Mr. McConaughey has said coyly that helium is “measuring” doing so but has yet to marque immoderate announcement.

For his part, Mr. Abbott has precocious highlighted his efforts to restrict however contention and sex are taught successful schools, an evident motion to the unexpected occurrence for Republicans successful Virginia, wherever the governor-elect, Glenn Youngkin, won the governor’s contention with a akin absorption connected schools. Mr. Abbott has besides regularly drawn attraction to his propulsion to grow the beingness of instrumentality enforcement and authorities National Guard troops connected the border.

The Abbott run responded to the announcement by tying Mr. O’Rourke to President Biden visually — successful a dilatory morphing representation of their 2 faces — and successful a connection that attacked Mr. O’Rourke for supporting the Biden administration’s “pro-open borderline policies.”

“The past happening Texans request is President Biden’s extremist wide docket coming to Texas nether the guise of Beto O’Rourke,” a run spokesman, Mark Miner, said successful the statement.

The governor’s contention was apt to play retired connected 2 terrains successful the state: its rapidly expanding suburbs, peculiarly connected the outskirts of Austin, Houston and Dallas, and on the borderline with Mexico.

Mr. O’Rourke’s run planned assertive on-the-ground organizing, going door-to-door successful places similar South Texas wherever a deficiency of in-person campaigning appeared to person wounded Democrats successful 2020. Mr. O’Rourke was expected aft his announcement to marque his archetypal run plaything done the South Texas borderline region.