On Monday Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke announced a 49-day tour through Texas for his campaign against Gov. Greg Abbott.
O’Rourke has promised to visit more than 65 counties and hold more than 70 public events. The 5,000-mile trip will start July 19 in O’Rourke’s hometown of El Paso and reach every region of the state, including a spate of little-visited small towns. It is set to wrap up in Denton in early September.
“We are going to bring people together in every part of this state to overcome Abbott’s extremism, incompetence, cruelty and corruption, and focus on the big things that unite us: great jobs, world-class schools, the ability to see a doctor and lowering costs so every Texan can live to their full potential,” O’Rourke said in a prepared statement.
According to the campaign, the drive will focus on uniting voters with issues like jobs, investments in schools, and expanding health care. He also is likely to capitalize on recent events that have especially galvanized Democrats in Texas, including the Uvalde school shooting and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
Major stops include San Antonio on August 26 and Austin on Sept. 6. However, O’Rourke is also expected to hit smaller towns across the state, as well as more than a dozen events in South Texas, where there has been a flurry of GOP activity in the predominantly Hispanic region.
Meanwhile, Abbott’s campaign recently announced plans to spend an initial sum of nearly $20 million on advertising.
