Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) and Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke traded barbs, trying to portray each other as inherently out of touch with the state in their first and only Friday night televised debate.
The debate – hosted by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill – gave candidates an opportunity to outline policy positions and tackle a range of issues, from the Uvalde school shooting to teacher retention to border security. . While the candidates made some policy statements, the hour-long debate was a mostly civil affair, as the candidates opened old wounds and tried to portray each other as extremists.
The debate comes at a pivotal time for O’Rourke, as recent polls show him leaving Abbott behind, giving him an important opportunity to reach voters in the final stretch of the race. At the same time, the hourly discourse comes amid speculation that the Texas governor could make a presidential bid in 2024.
Here are five takeaways from the Texas governor debate.
Barbs fly, but debate remains a subdued affair
The hour-long debate was a mostly sedate affair; there were no outbursts or raised voices. But that doesn’t mean Abbott and O’Rourke haven’t taken opportunities to rekindle the past and address each other’s shortcomings.
“Governor Abbott’s grid outage is part of a pattern of the past eight years. For example, being warned about school violence and gun violence specifically against children does nothing,” O’Rourke said. “Warned about issues within child protection, our foster care program does nothing and it gets worse. Warned for February 2021 that we had problems on the grid, he did nothing.”
At the same time, Abbott spoke of the Democrat’s failed attempts to win a Senate seat in 2018 and the White House two years later. He also argued that O’Rourke was inconsistent about his views.
“He’s confused about the border issue. He is flip-flop about the energy issue, such as energy jobs and the Green New Deal. He is skeptical of the police brutality. Whether it’s one issue or another, he keeps changing positions,” Abbott said.
Candidates portray each other as extremists
Both candidates tried to label each other as extremists, albeit in different ways.
A major policy area in which attacks were committed was abortion.
“Beto’s position is the most extreme because not only does he support abortion of a fully developed child until the last second before birth, he even opposes providing medical care to a baby who survives an abortion. He’s for unlimited abortion at taxpayer expense,” Abbott said.
“That’s not true. It’s a complete lie,” O’Rourke refuted. “I never said that. And nobody thinks that in the state of Texas. He says this because he has signed the most extreme abortion ban in America. No exception for rape, no exception for incest.”
Both men also labeled each other as having no contact at all with matters such as immigration. For example, Abbott claimed that O’Rourke said he would reduce immigration enforcement and downplayed the situation at the border.
Biden emerges as GOP bogeyman
Abbott took advantage of President Biden several times during the debate when he tried to tie O’Rourke to the president amid Biden’s lagging approval ratings.
“We shouldn’t be spending money on it because it’s all because Joe Biden hasn’t done the president’s job to secure the border,” the governor said in response to a question about whether more money should be given to Operation Lone. . Star, which focused on tackling border crossings between the US and Mexico.
“We only have to do that because of Joe Biden’s failure and because it would be the same path that Beto would take us down,” he added.
At one point during the debate, O’Rourke countered Abbott’s claims against the president, arguing that he blamed people like Biden but that the “buck stops on your desk”.
No mention of Trump
While former President Trump and the multiple state and federal investigations in which he is embroiled have consistently shadowed the midterm races, the former president was not mentioned once during the debate.
While references to Trump would likely stir up the GOP base in Texas, the absence of any mention of the former president both allowed Abbott to focus on state-specific issues.
And it suggested that O’Rourke also sees that the key to breaking through with Texas voters is to focus on core issues like immigration, abortion and gun violence — not the former White House resident.
O’Rourke’s decision not to name Trump also comes after criticism during the latest election cycle that Democrats were too focused on trying to tie Republicans to the former president.
Probably not a game changer
Given the civilized nature of the debate and the fact that neither candidate showed a major change in rhetoric or policy stance, it’s unlikely voters left Friday night’s event with a different mind.
That will likely be an asset for Abbott as he leads the polls, and it’s likely a setback for O’Rourke as there were no obvious moments when he could successfully deliver a damaging blow to the governor.
Instead, O’Rourke will have to trust that his acting as a defender of the incumbent president and a message of change will be enough to convince voters in November.
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