By: Vivona Xu

Current Texas governor Greg Abbott and former congressman Beto O’Rourke are in a neck-to-neck race for Texas governor.

Polls have shown Mr. O’Rourke to be more popular by a difference of only five voters.

The amount of campaign cash each person has raised is also close. Mr. O’Rourke is raising more money than Mr. Abbott: $27.6 million to $24.9 million in the last filing.

New York Times journalist J. David Goodman has said “the race for governor is perhaps the most competitive since Democrats last held that office in the 1990s.”

The recent events that have occurred in Texas have voters on their toes for the upcoming governor election.

When one of the deadliest school shooting in U.S history occurred in Uvalde, Texas and a ban on abortion followed. This was the perfect opportunity for democrats to turn election polls around.

“Dobbs at the margins has hurt Republicans in Texas. Uvalde at the margins has hurt Republicans in Texas. The grid has hurt Republicans in Texas,” said Mark P. Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University who helped conduct one recent poll.

Democrat Mr. O’Rourke’s approval ratings on polls have increased because of his views to focus on abortion and gun control. He believes assault rifles, especially AR-15s, should be banned from civilian use, and it is a woman’s right to choose whether to abort.

“I don’t think that we should have AR-15s and AK-47s on the streets of this state — I have seen what they do to my fellow Texans in El Paso in 2019,” he said, referring to a gunman who killed 23 people at a Walmart in the deadliest anti-Latino attack in modern American history.

After the elementary school massacre in Uvalde, Mr. O’Rourke interrupted a news conference in the town and challenged Mr. Abbott over his record on guns. Mr. O’Rourke was remembered saying “This is on you” while pointing angrily at the governor before he was escorted out of the building.

Alternatively, Mr. Abbott has been speculated to win among Hispanic Texans since they are very conservatives on their values.

Even though Mr. O’Rourke has raised more money, Mr. Abbott has more campaign money in the bank-nearly $46 million compared to about $24 million for Mr. O’Rourke- and the ability to attract wealthy donors.

When Mr. O’Rourke only had six donations of $100,000, Mr. Abbott took in 62. Some of the largest donors for the governor have been energy executives like Javaid Anwar of Midland Energy (about $1.4 million), Kelcy Warren of Energy Transfer ($1 million) and Gary Martin of Falcon Bay Energy, who has generously provided Mr. Abbott with $680,000 worth of plane trips.

Mr. O’Rourke and Mr. Abbott both have their own devoted supporters and abundant amounts of funding. The question that remains is: who will come out of this extremely close race victorious?

Sources:

Texas election: 5 takeaways from Greg Abbott, Beto O’Rourke’s latest fundraising haul (msn.com)

After Recent Turmoil, the Race for Texas Governor Is Tightening – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

In Texas Governor’s Race, Beto O’Rourke Haunted by 2020 Campaign – The New York Times (nytimes.com)