Beto O’Rourke Calls Governor Greg Abbott a ‘Thug’ and ‘Overbearing’

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Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic candidate for Texas governor, called Republican incumbent Greg Abbott “thug” and “bossy” on Saturday and compared Texas energy executives to Russian oligarchs in a scathing review that presages an election that is about eight months away.

“I just had the opportunity to meet the EU ambassador,” O’Rourke told Evan Smith, CEO and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, in a packed room at the South by Southwest festival. “We talked about the fact that you are seeing the continued rise of authoritarians and thugs across the world. And we have ours right here in the state of Texas.

Smith asked, “Is Greg Abbott a thug in your mind?”

O’Rourke replied, “He’s a thug, he’s an authoritarian.

“Let me plead the case. Not only was this guy, through his own incompetence, unable to keep the lights on in the planet’s energy capital last February, but when people like Kelcy Warren and other energy company CEOs achieved more than 11 billions of dollars in profits in five days – selling gas for 200 times the going rate; not only did he not recover these illegal profits; not only has there been no justice for over 700 people who have been killed, who literally froze to death in their homes, outside, in their cars, people who are now paying tens of billions of dollars accrued to pay for the property damage caused by the ensuing floods caused in their homes, but it takes millions of dollars in earnings from those same people. I mean, he has his own oligarch here in the state of Texas.

Abbott’s campaign said in a statement, “It is unfortunate that Beto O’Rourke continues to lead a campaign based on fear and the destruction of Texas.”

Warren is the billionaire CEO of Dallas-based Energy Transfer, a pipeline giant that grossed around $2.4 billion from the spike in natural gas prices during the February 2021 snowstorms, which knocked out power to much of the state.

Last month, Warren sued O’Bourke for defamation, which the candidate described as an attempt to silence him. (Warren’s lawyers and spokespersons did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

The state estimates that at least 246 people died in the snowstorms, although a BuzzFeed analysis found the toll could be as high as 702. Last month, the state power grid operator testified in court that at Abbott’s request, he kept wholesale electricity prices high in the final days of the storm in an effort to prevent further blackouts. This was done to incentivize companies to continue generating electricity. An Abbott spokesperson said this was necessary to “prevent loss of life”.

Taking the Russian analogy further, O’Rourke linked the new restrictions on voting access in Texas to President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian repression in Russia.

“Do you think this stuff only exists in Russia or other parts of the world?” It’s happening here,” O’Rourke said. “Do you think they rig elections in other parts of the world? It’s the hardest state in the country to vote, right here.

It’s hard to gauge which state makes voting the most difficult, but Texas requires photo ID, requires registration 30 days before an election, doesn’t make online registration available, and doesn’t allow early voting without excuse. It allows two weeks of in-person early voting for all registered voters.

In the March 1 primary, which saw fairly anemic turnout, more than 18,000 mail-in ballots were rejected in 16 of the state’s largest counties for failing to meet the identification requirements of the new law.

O’Rourke, 49, represented El Paso for three terms in the U.S. House. He challenged U.S. Senator Ted Cruz in 2018, losing by less than 3 percentage points, a remarkable performance in a state that hasn’t elected a statewide Democrat since 1994. In 2019, O’Rourke entered in the race for the Democratic presidential candidate. He struggled to raise much money or attract much attention and dropped out later that year.

When confronted with a question from the audience as to why he is “bombing[ed] released in 2020,” O’Rourke replied, “I think that’s a pretty accurate description.

Smith, the moderator, drew attention to a phrase used by O’Rourke during a Democratic presidential debate in September 2019, when he swore, “Damn, yes, we’ll take your AR-15, your AK-47. We will no longer allow it to be used against our fellow Americans.

O’Rourke on Saturday backtracked somewhat on his previous comments, saying he still doesn’t think ordinary citizens should own military-style weapons designed “to kill people on a battlefield,” but acknowledged that his If elected, he would face a tough fight. of the gun rights legislature. He promised to “find common ground with Republicans on things like universal background checks, safe storage laws, extreme risk protection laws,” which allow judges to remove temporarily the firearms of people who are at high risk of injuring themselves or others.

He added, “If I can find consensus in the Legislature to have a law in the state of Texas that allows us to buy back AR-15s and AK-47s, we will.” Last year, Texas began allowing people to carry a handgun without a license or training — even though most voters did not favor such unlicensed carrying. Prospects for a large-scale arms buyout seem dim.

After the interview, Mark Miner, director of communications for Abbott, issued a statement highlighting the discrepancies between O’Rourke’s comments on Saturday regarding gun buybacks, the “stay in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers, and President Joe Biden and previous statements he has made. (O’Rourke recently said he didn’t want any campaign help from Biden, but on Saturday insisted that “he’s not a drag on anyone.”)

“It seems like if you want Beto to tell the truth, you have to put him in front of out-of-state liberal elitists, not the people of Texas,” Miner said.

Asked if Biden’s unpopularity in Texas could be a drag on Abbott’s prospects, O’Rourke said he’s criss-crossed the state and heard nothing from voters about Biden or his predecessor. , President Donald Trump. Voters, he said, wanted to talk about higher utility bills, lack of broadband access in rural areas, rural hospital closures, state refusal to expand Medicaid and reduced public education spending. He insisted he would succeed in activating new voters and energizing young voters, two groups that helped propel his surprisingly close race in 2018.

O’Rourke, a proponent of abortion rights, condemned the near total ban on abortion in Texas as well as recent legislation preventing transgender teenagers from participating in youth sports. He also condemned Abbott’s directive to open investigations into child abuse in families seeking gender-affirming care for their children.

Such controversies were a distraction, O’Rourke said, from a maternal mortality crisis; a shortage of preventive care for women, including cervical cancer screenings; and high rates of teenage pregnancy and repeat teenage pregnancy. People who consider themselves “pro-life,” he said, should pay attention to the state of the foster care system in Texas, citing a state-contracted facility in Bastrop where girls who had already been victims of sex trafficking would have been sexually abused. again by the staff. The shelter was ordered to close on Friday.

A member of the public asked O’Rourke for his views on legalizing marjiuana. Abbott suggested he would support decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Texas stays away from states like California where the sale and use of marijuana is completely legal.

O’Rourke drew laughs and applause when he said a bipartisan consensus might not be hard to come by on this issue, given that Republicans like to get high too.

Disclosure: South by Southwest and Energy Transfer financially supported The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the journalism of the Tribune. Find a full list here.