NPR’s Rob Schmitz speaks with former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke about how past efforts by him and other Democrats helped the party win big in Texas in the midterms.
Transcript
ROB SCHMITZ, HOST:
While Texas’ populist roots may have laid the foundation for Democratic victories in the state, they weren’t the only factor that helped Texas Democrats win on Tuesday. Former Texas congressman and presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has helped pave the way for Democrat victories in the Lone Star State. You might remember his 2018 bid to unseat longstanding Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Ultimately, he lost by just a few percentage points. In 2022, he ran against Governor Greg Abbott and again lost, that time by only a slightly larger margin. Beto O’Rourke joins us now. Welcome.
BETO O’ROURKE: It’s good to be with you.
SCHMITZ: So I feel like you have been out of the national spotlight for a while, but perhaps that’s because you’ve been hard at work on the ground there in Texas mobilizing voters. Tell us about that.
O’ROURKE: After the Senate race, we asked ourselves, what would it take to win in Texas? And from that, we started a group called Powered By People, and it’s thousands of folks – many of whom volunteered on that Senate race – who get trained as volunteer deputy registrars, meet young people in person, get them registered and then, importantly, stay in touch with them and help them overcome the obstacles in a state that makes it harder than any other in the nation for young people to register and to vote, to help them participate in our politics.
SCHMITZ: Young folks showed up big time for Democrats this cycle. An NBC exit poll shows that 79% of voters under the age of 30 voted for Talarico. What do you think appealed to that demographic?
O’ROURKE: I think, first and foremost, James Talarico, who described this contest as not between a Democrat and a Republican or right versus left, but top versus bottom. When I spend time on these college campuses or at (inaudible) or clubs with young people as we help them to get registered and I ask them what’s important to them, they are absolutely disgusted with the concentration of wealth and privilege and power in this country. They ask me about the Epstein files and say, you know, how can the wealthiest, most powerful men rape and traffic girls and women with complete impunity? How is it that we’re at war again in the Middle East? Why are we complicit in this genocide in Gaza? Why is no one doing anything about these things?
And then at home in Texas, the minimum wage is 7.25. It’s the hardest state in the nation in which to see a doctor, and schoolteachers are working two or three jobs to make ends meet. These aren’t Republican or Democrat issues. They’re issues of basic justice, and I think that young people have the most acute sense of what is right or wrong. They are impatient with excuses or equivocation or blaming it on one party or another. They want solutions, and they want people to deliver.
SCHMITZ: That’s interesting. I mean, this is something that we spoke with our previous guest, David Griscom – he’s an author in Texas – about, that economic populism was one of the reasons that James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa won both the Senate and gubernatorial election. Is there anything that Democrats can learn from how this played out and what really matters to Texans?
O’ROURKE: I think the takeaway is it is incredibly important for Democrats now in power to deliver for the people they represent in ways that they can feel immediately. So raising the minimum wage – if you’re working for $7.25 an hour, you’re probably working two or three of those jobs to make ends meet. Raising that minimum wage will be felt immediately.
You know, if you can’t afford to see a doctor right now, and you’re suffering as a result of that, being able to, through Medicaid expansion, see a provider – that’s going to change your life immediately. And the follow-on effects of being able to afford tuition or down payment on a home or an automobile, these are significant material differences in people’s lives.
And so we have high expectations for Gina and James. And really, as you probably know, every single statewide office was won by a Democrat. The Democrats also picked a majority in the state House. They now have the opportunity to deliver for people. And so while we’re excited and we’re celebrating their victories, we’re also understanding there’s accountability, responsibility, and the clock is ticking.
SCHMITZ: You obviously had a lot to do with this popularity of Democrats that we are seeing right now. I mean, you, of course, ran for Senate. You ran for governor. You lost time and time again for both of those races. But a lot in the background was gained. How is this feeling for you right now, seeing these wins?
O’ROURKE: I’m over the moon. I mean, you know, my wife, Amy, and I, in 2016, when Trump won – I happened to be in Congress at the time – we looked at each other and we said, we have got to do something more. What we’ve been doing so far serving in Congress is insufficient to the task at hand, this threat of authoritarianism and fascism and the rise of this oligarchy in America. We needed to do something.
And from that was born this crazy snowball’s-chance-in-Texas idea of running for Senate in a state that last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 1988. And I was joined by hundreds of thousands – and by the end, millions – of my fellow Texans who believed in that dream. And so it wasn’t so much, you know, should Beto O’Rourke serve in the Senate or, you know, my name on an office or on the ballot. It is, can we change this state? And by extension, given the outsized importance of Texas, can we change this country?
SCHMITZ: Well, Beto O’Rourke, since I’ve got you here, I should ask you whether you have plans to run for president in 2028.
O’ROURKE: No, I don’t, but I am going to be involved one way or another. This extraordinary experiment 250 years in the making that is the product of so much service and sacrifice and struggle – all of us must do all that we can to keep it going. So that’s my mission. That’s what I’m going to be focused on. And wherever I can be useful or helpful, that’s where you’ll find me.
SCHMITZ: That is former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke. Thanks so much for joining us.
O’ROURKE: Thank you.
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