Some big news today out of Texas:
Two-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and likely Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke are in a virtual dead heat, a year ahead of the next Texas gubernatorial election, according to a new poll released Monday by the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation.
Among Texas voters who went to the polls in 2020, Abbott leads O’Rourke 44% to 43%, with the rest of respondents unsure or supporting third-party candidates.
Among all registered voters, the results are almost the same: Abbott, 43%; O’Rourke, 42%; undecided, 12%; and minor-party candidates, 3%.
The race is virtually unchanged if actor Matthew McConaughey, who has teased that he might run, appears on the ballot as an independent, the poll found. Among all registered voters, McConaughey draws only 9%, to Abbott’s 40% and O’Rourke’s 37%, with the rest unsure or backing minor-party candidates.
Contributing to O’Rourke’s surprising strength in the poll was his 49%-31% lead among Hispanics, anchored in a 27-percentage point lead among Catholic Hispanics.
In the March 1 GOP primary for governor, Abbott enjoys a commanding, 51-percentage point lead among the most likely Republican voters. Former state Republican Chairman Allen West is a distant second, trailing Abbott, 64%-13%. Former state Sen. Don Huffines has the support of 5%; conservative commentator and comedian Chad Prather, 3%. Another 15% were unsure how they’d vote.
For the foundation’s latest survey, 1,402 respondents were interviewed online Oct. 14-27. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
Here’s some more info:
I can believe this and there are several reasons why this race would be tied. This is a factor:
Greg Abbott is “throwing” billions of his state’s taxpayer money at securing the U.S.-Mexico border, a job usually reserved for the federal Border Patrol and Homeland Security. Meanwhile, experts are warning that the state is not fully prepared for another winter freeze like the one this past February that left an estimated 702 people dead.
“Texas is investing $3 billion of taxpayer dollars doing the federal government’s job, and what we’re doing with that money is we have now more than 6,500 troopers and officers down on the border especially focused right now on trying to prevent these caravans from coming across the border,” the governor told Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business on Monday.
Abbott’s efforts at securing the border are part of what he calls Operation Lone Star, which he says is intended to “combat the smuggling of people and drugs into Texas.” He has deployed the Texas National Guard to prevent migrants and smugglers from coming into the United States and to continue building former President Trump’s beloved border wall.
And despite not even declaring his candidacy, Abbott is already running scared of O’Rourke:
Gov. Greg Abbott brands Beto O'Rourke as "Wrong Way O'Rourke" in a new campaign ad that criticizes the El Paso Democrat for his support of Black Lives Matter and efforts to defund the police.
For the record: O'Rourke hasn't actually said he's running for governor.
- Yes but: It looks increasingly like he will. O'Rourke recently called out Abbott's "anti-science, anti-public health order" that bans businesses from mandating vaccinations.
- He's also been talking with Democratic operatives about a potential run, as Axios previously reported.
- Sources who work in Texas Democratic politics tell Axios that O'Rourke could declare before the holidays — possibly with a first reveal to an El Paso news outlet.
We shall wait and see what Beto ends up doing but for now, we need to keep up the work to flip Texas Blue. Click below to donate and get involved with Powered by People and the Texas Democratic Party.
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