MIDLAND Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic nominee for Texas governor, spoke to more than 400 people at the Midland MLK Community Center on Wednesday evening.
The El Paso native’s talking points included schools, healthcare, firearms and energy jobs with an emphasis on the oil and gas industry.
O’Rourke is traveling Texas on his “Drive for Texas” where he will spend 49 days on the road as he travels more than 5,600 miles to visit every part of the state this summer.
“I was born and raised in West Texas,” O’Rourke said about traveling across the state including to the Permian Basin. “I’m raising my kids here in West Texas. This is home. This is part of the country that I’m so proud of. It has secured our energy independence. It provides the food and fiber on which we depend across the country, but it doesn’t get its fair share of resources or attention or focus.”
On Wednesday, O’Rourke visited Pecos in the early afternoon and then came to Midland in the evening. There were 441 people that entered the MLK Community Center. Most of the chairs were occupied and many people were standing.
O’Rourke is scheduled to continue his roadtrip with visits to Snyder and Lubbock on Thursday. He will continue to Muleshoe and Amarillo on Friday.
A news release from O’Rourke detailed that he is set to hold more than 70 events in more than 65 counties as he campaigns to become the 49th governor of Texas against Gov. Greg Abbott.
O’Rourke started the meeting a little later than expected as multiple people continued to shout over the Democratic nominee.
One man was escorted out and another continued to shout until he agreed with O’Rourke that he would be given the opportunity to speak during the Q&A portion. The man who agreed with O’Rourke to wait until the Q&A portion left before that happened.
O’Rourke said during the town hall that he would cancel the STAAR test. He said he also wants to pay teachers more so many don’t have to get a second or third job.
“If I were governor right now, I would cancel the STAAR Test in the State of Texas and replace it with something that actually works,” O’Rourke said during the meeting. “… I would have an annual cost of living adjustment for those retired teachers.”
After he spoke about education, O’Rourke said he wants to expand Medicaid.
O’Rourke continued to expand on his ideas for healthcare during the Q&A session as he wants to legalize marijuana in Texas. That proclamation drew applause.
When O’Rourke spoke about firearms, he said he wants universal background checks, red flag laws and safe storage laws. He also said that for people purchasing AR-15s and AK-47s the minimum age should increase from 18 to 21.
When asked if he would attempt to take AR-15 or AK-47s from gun owners he didn’t answer. He did reiterate that those firearms sales should be increased from 18 to 21.
The last point that O’Rourke spoke about is keeping oil and gas jobs while also expanding renewable energy jobs.
A woman, who explained to O’Rourke that she was born a Republican, said that two of her children work in the oil field and she asked the Democratic nominee if their jobs would be safe.
“I want to protect and expand energy jobs including oil and gas jobs,” O’Rourke said in response. “If you look at this recent invasion of Russia in the Ukraine, 10% of what we were importing came from Russia in the first place. Let’s make up that 10% here in Texas and maybe export some of what we are drilling here to Europe, so they aren’t dependent on Russia moving forward.”
O’Rourke also said he wants Texas to be the leader for energy jobs in the future.
“We need to make sure that we own the future of this energy revolution globally and have it headquartered right here in West Texas,” he said.
Another topic brought up by the woman was the U.S.-Mexico border.
“If you want to come to this country, if you want to join a family member, if you want to work at a job, if you want to claim asylum or you want to seek refuge, we want you to be able to do that, but you have to do that legally and in an orderly fashion,” O’Rourke said during the Q&A session. “… We want people to come to this country for those reasons.
“What if Texas elected a governor who will work on rewriting our immigration laws to match our ideas or values.”
