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EDINBURG — Gov. Greg Abbott and challenger Beto O’Rourke traded blows over border security, abortion and gun violence Friday in a debate televised statewide.
While dodging tough questions — such as why Abbott has moved rightward and why O’Rourke has run for so many offices lately — the candidates probed for the other’s weak spot.
“I’m governing from principles. I’m not looking at changing or flip-flopping positions like other people do,” Abbott said, in a thinly veiled reference to his Democratic opponent, whom he addressed dismissively as “Beto.”
O’Rourke repeatedly accused Abbott of failing to solve problems. He mocked the two-term Republican’s plan to spend half of the state’s $27 billion surplus on cutting school property taxes.
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“He’s had eight years to get this done,” O’Rourke said. “If it’s such a good idea, why are we talking about another four years to accomplish that?”
The 60-minute debate, broadcast on 14 TV stations owned by Irving-based Nexstar Media and five partner stations, is the only one Abbott has granted.
As he did in 2018, the governor limited the risk of gaffes and setbacks by insisting on a debate held while many Texans attend high school football games — and TV audiences are small. O’Rourke, who wanted more, also criticized Abbott’s campaign for insisting that there be no live audience at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg.
The two men clashed while seated 15 feet apart. Both wore gray suits, white shirts and reddish ties. O’Rourke, who appeared uninvited at an Abbott news conference after the Uvalde school shooting, shocking some Republicans, made no surprise gestures.
Confounding some political veterans’ expectations, O’Rourke came across in measured tones, while Abbott for much of the debate was the aggressor, calling out what he said were his opponent’s inaccurate statements.
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[21/21] Uvalde mass shooting victim families attend a press conference with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke ahead of the gubernatorial debate in Edinburg, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
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[1/21] Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke, right, and his wife Amy cheer as new voters walk in to takes photos at a post-debate watch party in Edinburg, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
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[2/21] Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke holds a card dedicated to one of the Uvalde mass shooting victim Jacklyn Cazares ahead of the gubernatorial debate in Edinburg, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
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[3/21] Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke speaks to Uvalde mass shooting victim families ahead of the gubernatorial debate in Edinburg, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
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[4/21] Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke and his wife Amy is reflected on the sunglass of Felix Rubio, father of Uvalde mass shooting victim Lexi, 10, ahead of the gubernatorial debate in Edinburg, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
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[5/21] Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke speaks during a press conference with Uvalde mass shooting victim families ahead of the gubernatorial debate in Edinburg, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
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[6/21] Amy, wife of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke puts on a badge dedicated to Uvalde mass shooting victim Annabell Guadalupe Rodriguez ahead of a press conference with Uvalde mass shooting victim families in Edinburg, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
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[7/21] Supporters of Texas Govorner Greg Abbott watch the debate against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke at Hilton McAllen Convention Center in McAllen, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
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[8/21] Texas Governor Greg Abbott greets the crowd as he arrived after his debate against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke at Hilton McAllen Convention Center in McAllen, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
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[9/21] Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke arrives at a post-debate watch party in Edinburg, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
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[10/21] Crowd gathers at a debate watch party for Texas Governor Greg Abbott ahead of his arrival at Hilton McAllen Convention Center in McAllen, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
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[11/21] Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke addresses the crowd at a post-debate watch party in Edinburg, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
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[12/21] Texas Governor Greg Abbott waves towards the crowd as he arrived after his debate against Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke at Hilton McAllen Convention Center in McAllen, TX on Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
Border security
Tensions also rose when the two men discussed Abbott’s state-funded border security push involving thousands of state police and National Guard troops.
O’Rourke, asked if he’s changed his position on deployment of the state National Guard since last spring, replied, “I haven’t.”
O’Rourke said the soldiers can’t make arrests. But “strategic deployment on a volunteer basis” can make sense, he said.
Abbott defended his busing of migrants to cities such as Washington and New York and said it would continue.
“They needed relief and busing was one of the ways that provided them relief,” Abbott said of border communities.
The mayor and City Council of El Paso are busing migrants too, Abbott said.
“Different programs,” O’Rourke said, accusing Abbott of using rhetoric that fans passions and endangers immigrants.
Asked why Texas doesn’t send migrants to big cities in red states, such as New Orleans and Atlanta, Abbott said New York and Washington “have the capability of accommodating the number of migrants that are being sent better than these other cities that you talked about.”
Abbott disputed New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ contention that his aides had called Abbott’s office to protest a lack of coordination on the shipments of undocumented immigrants.
After the debate, Adams’ press secretary, Fabien Levy, told The Dallas Morning News their office did call Abbott’s about the issue and tweeted a screenshot of an email he said confirms it.
Abortion
On the topic of Texas’ near-total ban on abortion, O’Rourke called Abbott’s pledge a year ago to eliminate rape in Texas “silly,” and turned up the heat on the incumbent’s much-criticized comment that victims of rape and incest should seek emergency contraception, such as the Plan B pill.
“This election is about reproductive freedom,” O’Rourke said, noting bills Abbott signed outlaw virtually all abortions in Texas, with no exceptions for rape or incest. “If you care about this, you need to turn out and vote.”
Abbott spoke of his and his wife Cecilia’s decision to adopt their daughter, Audrey.
“I’ve seen firsthand the power that adoption can have,” he said.
As he has on the campaign trail, Abbott accused O’Rourke of favoring no abortion restrictions.
“He’s for unlimited abortion at taxpayer expense,” Abbott said.
“That’s not true,” O’Rourke shot back. “I never said that. No one thinks that in the state of Texas.”
Guns and the Uvalde shooting
On guns and the May massacre in Uvalde, Abbott said mental health “is leading people to engage in school shootings, and Texas is already addressing that.”
Referring to O’Rourke’s support for raising the minimum age for buying assault-style weapons to 21, Abbott said “it is a false promise to suggest that will be upheld by the Constitution.”
Reminded of his 2019 vow to take people’s assault-style rifles, O’Rourke said: “The only place an AR-15 or AK-47 makes sense is on the battlefield.”
But as a candidate for governor, O’Rourke said he wants progress on “common sense” gun proposals such as raising the age for purchase, red flag laws and universal background checks.
“We will get that done. We will make progress and take action where this governor failed,” he said.
Education
O’Rourke accused Abbott of neglecting public schools, citing a growing exodus of teachers. Fewer than half of the teachers who started their careers 12 years ago were still in classrooms in the 2019-20 school year.
“We need to get the backs of those teachers,” O’Rourke said.
Abbott, without accounting for student enrollment growth and inflation, cast himself as an education governor.
“I provided more funding for education than any governor in Texas history,” he said, noting that he pushed through a bill in 2019 that could allow master teachers to command six-figure salaries.
State of the race
The race is the toughest yet of the governor’s 27 years in statewide politics. Then-Gov. George W. Bush appointed Abbott, a state trial judge in Houston, to the Texas Supreme Court in 1995. He was off and running, appealing to both social conservatives and business-minded establishment Republicans.
The ambitious justice parlayed his penchant for fundraising and cultivation of grass-roots activists into a run for attorney general in 2002.
Abbott’s 16-point win that year over Democrat Kirk Watson, the former Austin mayor and state senator, was his first even remotely tough contest. He defeated former state Sen. Wendy Davis by 20 percentage points to win his first term as governor in 2014, and in 2018, dispatched former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez with a 13-point victory.
This year, most public polls show Abbott with a lead over O’Rourke in the high single digits.
O’Rourke has brought to the contest a door-knocking army of more than 80,000 volunteers and a small-donor base whose vast size is unheard of for a Texas Democrat.
In their closing statements, the rivals boiled their platforms to 30-second sound bites.
”I’m running for reelection to keep Texas number one, to cut your property taxes, to secure the border, to keep dangerous criminals behind bars and to keep deadly fentanyl off our streets,” Abbott said.
Responded O’Rourke, “I’ll keep your lights on. I’ll make sure they keep your kids safe. We’ll lower these property taxes and we’ll prioritize the lives of each and every single Texan.”