March 18, 2022
For Immediate Release
WASHINGTON TIMES: “BETO O’ROURKE PIVOTS TO RIGHT IN UPHILL BID TO UNSEAT TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT
“It’s not surprising that Beto O’Rourke can’t find people to work on his fledgling campaign when he can’t even decide where he stands on issues.” – Mark Miner, Communications Director
Beto O’Rourke Pivots To Right In Uphill Bid To Unseat Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
By Susan Ferrechio
Washington Times
March 17, 2022
Click Here To Read The Full Article
Democratic candidate for governor Beto O’Rourke is looking for ways to close a persistent gap in the polls with Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, backing off his far-left stance on border security, gun ownership and other hot-button issues.
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The Abbott team says the shift, which appears to be aimed at attracting the state’s more moderate Democrats and independents, is a sign that Mr. O’Rourke’s campaign is struggling.
“He’s been all over the place on all the issues,” said Mark Miner, an Abbott campaign spokesman. “He’s on this extreme Texas makeover tour where every stop he comes up with a new position.”
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Mr. O’Rourke announced in September 2019, after a mass shooting in El Paso, that he favored a mandatory buyback program for certain assault-style guns, including the popular AR-15.
“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” O’Rourke said during a Democratic presidential debate. “We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.”
Last month, Mr. O’Rourke told reporters in Tyler that he wanted to defend the Second Amendment and was “not interested in taking anything from anyone.” He criticized Mr. Abbott for signing legislation to eliminate gun carry permits.
He has gone from demanding that the U.S. “tear down” the border wall to criticizing President Biden for not doing enough on border security, and he went from opposing Mr. Abbott’s ban on teaching critical race theory in schools to saying CRT shouldn’t be part of the curriculum.
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Mr. O’Rourke is also campaigning to improve border security. He accused the Biden administration in November of not doing enough to stem the flow of thousands of illegal immigrants into Texas. Still, Mr. O’Rourke opposes the border wall. In 2019, he called for tearing down the wall and eliminating the detention of illegal immigrants.
Responding to a question at a town hall this month, Mr. O’Rourke said he did not believe critical race theory should be a part of school curriculum.
A month earlier, Mr. O’Rourke said he opposed Mr. Abbott’s bill banning schools from teaching critical race theory, which asserts that America is embedded with systemic racism.
“We should know the full story of Texas and the full story of the United States of America,” Mr. O’Rourke told Yahoo News. “Not only our founding ideals and principles but the way that those ideals and principles were often violated by the people who wrote them or the fact that so much of the wealth and opportunity in this state was actually created by people who had no choice in the deal whatsoever. If we don’t, then we’re trafficking in myths and things that just are not true.”