TEXARKANA, Texas - In an appearance Friday, prominent Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke argued that new election laws threaten democracy and encouraged his audience to take action through the political process to save it.
O'Rourke brought his "Powered by People" campaign to Texarkana beginning with going door to door to register voters and later addressing a crowd of about 50 at the Twin City Event and Conference Center on Texas Boulevard. The stop was part of a statewide tour of Texas cities to make the case for increased voting rights activism.
For about an hour Friday afternoon, O'Rourke knocked on doors on West 13th and West 14th streets, asking if he could help anyone register to vote and inviting them to the later event. Two men took the opportunity, and another woman accepted a form to fill out later.
Former President Donald Trump's repeated claims of widespread fraud during and after the 2020 election, and state legislatures' subsequent measures changing election law, are unprecedented threats to the American system of democracy, he said at the later event, where his introduction was greeted with a standing ovation.
He included the recent election bill, Senate Bill 7, thwarted by Texas statehouse Democrats during the latest legislative session when they walked off the Senate floor to prevent a voting quorum. Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to call a special legislative session in which the measure can be reconsidered.
"SB7 was introduced in Texas, which is already the hardest state in which to cast a ballot or register to vote. Over the last eight years, for example, 750 polling places in this state, this fast-growing state, have been closed. That's more than twice as many as the closest state behind us. And the 750 polling place closures, the vast majority of them were in the fastest growing Black and Latino neighborhoods in this state," O'Rourke said.
"We are 50th out of 50 states in terms of ease of voting and voter registration. On top of all of that, SB7 this year was going to make it even harder. It was going to do away with Sunday morning voting, 'Souls to the Polls' disproportionately used by Black voters across the state of Texas.
It was going to make it harder for those with a disability to cast a ballot. It would be harder for somebody drove you to the ballot box. They might do away with curbside voting. And if you have a disability and you want to vote by mail, and you're not 65 years or older, they're going to require you to disclose the nature of your disability," he said.
O'Rourke urged the audience to contact their state legislators in opposition to the bill, to pressure federal elected officials to intervene through legislation such as the "For the People" election reform bill currently before the U.S. Senate, and as an "insurance policy" to engage the 7 million eligible Texans who did not vote in the last election, including 2 million who were not registered.
O'Rourke did not rule out running for governor in 2022 to unseat Abbott, who is expected to run for re-election to a third consecutive term.
"I want to see this fight through, this fight that I just described, to the ends to this conclusion, for a couple of reasons. One, it may not matter who the candidate is if we don't have free and fair elections, it's not one person, one vote in Texas.
"But after that, I really do want to think about, with you and others, what it is I can do to best serve this state. And that might be as a candidate. It might be supporting candidates. In whatever way, I'll be in for the distance. And I'll be with you," O'Rourke said.
One man in attendance caused a brief disruption with a confrontational question about O'Rourke's gun control proposals, which include banning the sale of and buying back semi-automatic rifles such as AR-15s.
"I don't think anyone should own an AR-15 or an AK-47. But I recognize full well that the vast majority of those who own them don't plan to use them against anybody else, have not used them against anybody else, and likely will not use them against anyone. It's just that when they are used against others in movie theaters and supermarkets, in high schools in grade schools, they kill at a rate and an effectiveness and efficiency that's unmatched, unlike any other weapon. That's why I feel the way I do.
"But I also understand (and) I'm willing to work with you on this if you're willing to work with me, that we could probably do better, and you and I could probably agree on how we can do better than what we have right now," O'Rourke said.