, the Democratic nominee for Texas governor, called the Republican incumbent, , a 鈥渁 thug鈥� and an 鈥渁uthoritarian鈥� on Saturday and compared Texas energy executives to Russian oligarchs in a blistering critique that presages an election that is about eight months away.
鈥淚 just had a chance to meet with the ambassador from the EU,鈥� O鈥橰ourke told Evan Smith, the CEO and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, in a crowded hall at the South by Southwest festival. 鈥淲e talked about the fact that you鈥檙e seeing the continued rise of authoritarians and thugs across the world. And we have our own, right here, in the state of Texas.鈥�
Smith asked, 鈥淕reg Abbott is a thug in your mind?鈥�
O鈥橰ourke replied, "He鈥檚 a thug, he鈥檚 an authoritarian. 鈥淟et me make the case. Not only could this guy, through his own incompetence, not keep the lights on in the energy capital of the planet last February, but when people like Kelcy Warren and other energy company CEOs made than $11 billion in profit over five days 鈥� selling gas for 200 times the going rate; not only did he not claw back those illegal profits; not only was there no justice for more than 700 people who were killed, who literally froze to deaths in their homes, outside, in their cars, people who are paying now tens of billions of dollars cumulatively to pay for the property damage that the flooding that ensued caused in their homes, but he鈥檚 taking millions of dollars in payoffs from these same people. I mean, he鈥檚 got his own oligarch here in the state of Texas.鈥�
Abbott鈥檚 campaign said in a statement, 鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunate Beto O鈥橰ourke continues to run a campaign based on fear mongering and tearing down Texas.鈥�
Warren is the billionaire CEO of Dallas-based Energy Transfer, a pipeline giant that from skyrocketing natural gas prices during the February 2021 snowstorms, which knocked out electricity across much of the state.
Last month, for defamation, which the candidate described as an effort to silence him. (Warren鈥檚 lawyers and spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
The state estimates that in the snowstorms, though a BuzzFeed analysis found that the toll. Last month, the state鈥檚 power grid manager that upon Abbott鈥檚 request, he kept wholesale electricity prices high in the latter days of the storm in an effort to prevent more rolling blackouts. That was done to incentivize companies to keep producing power. A spokesperson for Abbott said that was needed to 鈥減revent the loss of life.鈥�
Drawing the Russia analogy further, O鈥橰ourke linked new restrictions on voting access in Texas to President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 authoritarian crackdown in Russia.
鈥淵ou think this stuff only exists in Russia or in other parts of the world? It鈥檚 happening right here,鈥� O鈥橰ourke said. 鈥淵ou think they rig elections in other parts of the planet? It is the toughest state in the nation in which to vote, right here.鈥�
It is difficult to assess which state makes voting most difficult, but Texas requires a photo ID, requires registration 30 days before an election, does not make online registration available and does not allow no-excuse early voting. It does allow two weeks of in-person early voting for all registered voters.
In the March 1 primary, which recorded fairly , in 16 of the state鈥檚 largest counties for failing to meet the new law鈥檚 ID requirements.
O鈥橰ourke, 49, represented El Paso for three terms in the U.S. House. He challenged U.S. Sen. in 2018, losing by less than 3 percentage points, a remarkable showing in a state that hasn鈥檛 elected a Democrat statewide since 1994. In 2019, O鈥橰ourke entered the race for Democratic nominee for president. He struggled to raise much money or get much attention and dropped out later that year.
When confronted with an audience question about why he 鈥渂omb[ed] out in 2020,鈥� O鈥橰ourke responded, 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 a pretty accurate description.鈥�
Smith, the moderator, drew attention to a line O鈥橰ourke used in a Democratic presidential debate in September 2019, when he vowed, 鈥淗ell, yes, we鈥檙e going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We鈥檙e not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.鈥�
O鈥橰ourke on Saturday dialed back somewhat from his earlier comments, saying that he still didn鈥檛 think ordinary citizens should own military-style weapons designed 鈥渢o kill people on a battlefield,鈥� but acknowledged that if elected he would face a stiff fight from the Legislature over gun rights. He vowed to 鈥渇ind common ground with Republicans on things like universal background checks, safe-storage laws, extreme-risk protection laws,鈥� which allow judges to temporarily remove firearms from people who are at an elevated risk of harming themselves or others.
He added, 鈥淚f I can find the consensus within the Legislature to have a law within the state of Texas that allows us to buy back the AR-15s and AK-47s, we will.鈥� Texas last year began 鈥� even though most voters did not support such permitless carry. The prospects for a large-scale gun buyback would seem slim.
After the talk, Mark Miner, Abbott鈥檚 communications director, issued a statement pointing out discrepancies between O'Rourke鈥檚 comments on Saturday regarding gun buybacks, the 鈥渞emain in Mexico鈥� policy for asylum-seekers, and President Joe Biden and previous statements he鈥檚 made. (O'Rourke recently said he did not want any campaign assistance from Biden, but on Saturday insisted that 鈥渉e is not a drag on anyone.鈥�)
鈥淚t appears if you want Beto to tell the truth, you need to put him in front of out-of-state liberal elitists, not the people of Texas,鈥� Miner said.
Asked whether Biden鈥檚 unpopularity in Texas might be a drag on Abbott鈥檚 prospects, O鈥橰ourke said that he had been crisscrossing the state and hearing 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, the closings of rural hospitals, the state鈥檚 refusal to expand Medicaid and diminished spending on public education. He insisted that he would manage to activate first-time voters and energize young voters, two groups that helped propel his surprisingly close race in 2018.
O鈥橰ourke, a supporter of abortion rights, condemned Texas鈥� near-total ban on abortions as well as recent legislation blocking transgender teenagers from participating in youth sports. He also condemned Abbott鈥檚 directive to start of families who seek gender-affirming care for their children.
Such controversies were a distraction, O鈥橰ourke said, from a maternal mortality crisis; a shortage of preventive care for women, including cervical cancer screenings; and high rates of teen pregnancy and. People who see themselves as 鈥減ro-life,鈥� 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 by staff. The shelter was ordered closed Friday.
An audience member asked O鈥橰ourke for his views on marjiuana legalization. Abbott has suggested he would support decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana. Texas remains a far cry from states like California where the sale and use of marijuana are fully legal.
O鈥橰ourke drew laughter and applause when he said that bipartisan consensus might not be hard to coalesce on this issue, given that Republicans, too, like to get high.
