Former Congressman Beto O’Rourke (right) announces his candidacy for Texas governor and discusses the power grid failure during the February freeze, broadband internet and current immigration laws alongside Mayor Trey Mendez at La Plaza Terminal in Brownsville today. Luis Martinez Santillano/The Rider
Former Congressman Beto O’Rourke met with Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez earlier today on the fourth day of his campaign for Texas governor.
The former 2018 U.S. Senate Democratic nominee and 2020 presidential contender announced he is running for governor, challenging incumbent Republican Greg Abbott.
“It’s really an honor for me to host him in the first week of his campaign in our great city and talk about all that’s happening in Brownsville,” Mendez said at the news conference held at La Plaza Terminal in downtown Brownsville.
In a video announcing his campaign Monday, O’Rourke touched on the negligence of elected officials with the power grid failure during the February freeze, causing millions of Texans to go without power and water for days.
Before the news conference, the mayor told O’Rourke about the city’s plans to incorporate broadband internet and its own micro grid for the city.
“If the power grid fails again, Brownsville is going to be protected because it’s going to set up its own electricity infrastructure,” O’Rourke said.
He said he wants to be part of this initiative and help represent the programs that are taking place here on a national level.
In a report generated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, O’Rourke said that “despite warnings in 2011, 2014 about major failures potentially within the grid, that our state legislature and our governor did nothing to prepare us for this previous winter storm in February.”
“And despite the legislative session and the special sessions that followed, they’ve done nothing to prepare us for the next winter storm that’s gonna come,” he said.
Aside from the issues with the Texas power grid, the candidate also talked about the issues in the state that divide the population culturally, such as opinions on abortion, gun laws and gender identity.
O’Rourke said he wants to redirect the conversation to the more constructive issues, such as improving the education system, local infrastructure and creating new job opportunities, rather than focus on the destructive issues.
“I want to make sure that if I am elected governor that the people of Brownsville will have a partner so that they don’t always have to do it themselves and so they have someone who’s equally invested in their success,” he said.
The Democratic candidate also mentioned the disconnect between the issues faced in border towns and what is portrayed by the state’s representation.
O’Rourke criticized Abbott’s rhetoric on the condition of border towns and how he paints them as unsafe to the rest of the state, thus creating a sense of panic in Texas, which O’Rourke cites for the tragic Walmart shooting that resulted in 23 Hispanics dead in his hometown of El Paso.
“[Abbott] calls this an invasion when he says ‘Texans must defend themselves,’” O’Rourke said. “In fact, he says, ‘You must take matters into your own hands.’ These are all words from Gov. Abbott. People listen and they do that.”
He said Texas should be at the forefront with the federal government in rewriting “this country’s outdated immigration laws … because we’ve lived this and understand it better than anyone else.”
This is O’Rourke’s fourth day campaigning. On Tuesday, he visited Laredo; Wednesday, McAllen; and now, Brownsville.
The candidate said he cannot take any region for granted and will work for the votes he plans to acquire.
