Beto O’Rourke returns to campaign trail with withering attack on Greg Abbott: ‘We’re running against the worst governor in America’

Former congressman claims Democrats will win for first time in 30 years

Beto O’Rourke has returned to the campaign trail with a withering attack on Greg Abbott, accusing him of repeatedly letting down Texans and describing him as the “worst governor in America”.

Appearing at the border community of Laredo, a week after a viral infection forced him to take a break, the 49-year-old laid into Mr Abbott, and claimed polls showed him closing the gap on the incumbent Republican.

“All of you who have come out here tonight, let me in on the big news - we are going to win this election in November,” he said to cheers.

“We're going yo win because we're going to make sure every woman makes her own decisions about her own body, her own future, and her own health care.”

He added: “We are going to win because we're going to put the lives of our kids above the interests of the NRA, or the gun lobby, or anything else.”

Mr O’Rourke narrowly failed in a 2018 attempt to defeat Texas senator Ted Cruz, pushing the conservative incumbent hard in what was one of the closet races of its kind in the state.

Many had high hopes for the former congressman when he used his platform to run for the Democratic nominee for president, but his campaign lost traction amid a crowded field, and accusations of a sense of entitlement impacting his message.

This year he claims he can defeat Mr Abbott, 64, who was first elected in 2014 and reelected in 2018, arguing that several crucial issues have given him a window.

One is the issue of gun control, something Mr Abbott has long been opposed to promoting, despite repeated mass shootings, such as in El Paso in 2019, and the school shooting in Uvalde earlier this year.

He also believes that the overturn of Roe v Wade, coupled with the signing into law in Texas of an anti-abortion measure, that does not include an exception for either rape or incest, will drive out not only Democrats, but Republicans and independents.

Speaking to Fox 4 News in Dallas last month, Mr O’Rourke was asked whether he thought women will be his swing voters.

“This is essentially a referendum on whether we’re going to go back literally half a century, or whether the state is going to move forward,” he said.

“There will be Republicans, there’ll be independents, there’ll be Democrats, like there’ll be folks who’ve never voted in an election before because they didn’t think it mattered and they know that in this one, literally, their lives are on the line. They’ll be coming out.”

Mr O’Rourke, who appeared with Rochelle Garza, a the former ACLU attorney who has defended abortion rights and is challenging Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, said Mr Abbott had also failed to invest in the state’s infrastructure.

He said the widespread power outage last winter, was the fault of poor management.

Most polls show Mr Abbott with a lead of six of seven points. The last Democrat elected governor was Ann Richards in 1991.

On Friday evening, Mr O’Rourke claimed he was closing on his rival.

“The last poll that we have on Greg Abbott, we are five points down and climbing fast,” he said.

“For us to make up this ground right now we need you. It will not be the Democratic Party. It will not be the candidates by themselves. It will not be some magical amounts of money, or some mysterious message that we come up with in a focus group.”

He added: “It is going to be the people of this community, in this room right now, knocking on the doors of those who’ve been written out of this democracy before. It will not be easy.”