Texas ‘blue tsunami’ makes former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke ‘over the moon’: NPR

NPR’s Rob Schmitz speaks with former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke about how his past efforts and those of other Democrats helped the party win big in Texas in the midterms.

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. Beto O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman and presidential candidate, helped pave the way for Democrats’ victories in the Lone Star State. You may remember his 2018 attempt to unseat longtime Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. In the end, he only lost a few percentage points. In 2022, he ran against Governor Greg Abbott and lost again, this time by a slightly larger margin. Beto O’Rourke joins us now. To welcome.

BETO O’ROURKE: It’s good to be with you.

SCHMITZ: So my sense is that you’ve stayed out of the national spotlight for a while, but maybe that’s because you’ve been working hard on the ground in Texas to mobilize voters. Tell us about that.

O’ROURKE: After the Senate race, we asked ourselves: What would it take to win in Texas? And from there, we created a group called Powered By People, and it’s thousands of people – many of whom volunteered for this Senate race – who go through volunteer deputy registrar training, meet with young people in person, get them registered and then, more importantly, stay in touch with them and help them overcome obstacles in a state that makes it harder than any other in the country for young people to register and vote, to help them participate in our politics.

SCHMITZ: Young people have been very vocal for Democrats this cycle. An NBC exit poll shows 79% of voters under 30 voted for Talarico. What do you think attracted this demographic?

O’ROURKE: I think first and foremost of James Talarico, who described this competition not between a Democrat and a Republican or between the right and the left, but between the top and the bottom. When I spend time on these college campuses or in (inaudible) clubs with young people while we help them register and 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 richest and most powerful men rape and traffick girls and women with impunity? How come we are at war again in the Middle East? Why are we complicit in this genocide in Gaza? Why doesn’t anyone do anything about these things?

And then here in Texas, the minimum wage is 7.25. It’s the hardest state in the country to see a doctor, and teachers work two or three jobs to make ends meet. These are not Republican or Democratic issues. These are questions of fundamental justice, and I think it’s young people who have the strongest sense of what’s right and wrong. They are eager to accept excuses or equivocation or to shift blame to one party or the other. They want solutions and they want people to achieve them.

SCHMITZ: That’s interesting. I mean, this is something we talked about with our previous guest, David Griscom – he’s an author in Texas – whose economic populism was one of the reasons James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa won the Senate and gubernatorial elections. Is there anything Democrats can learn from how this played out and what really matters to Texans?

O’ROURKE: I think the takeaway is that it’s extremely important for Democrats currently in power to meet the expectations of the people they represent in a way that they can feel immediately. So raise 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. The increase in this minimum wage will be felt immediately.

You know, if you can’t afford to see a doctor right now and you’re suffering from this, being able, through Medicaid expansion, to see a provider – it’s going to change your life immediately. And the side effects of being able to afford college tuition or the down payment on a house or car make significant material differences in people’s lives.

So we have high expectations for Gina and James. And in fact, as you probably know, every statewide office has been won by a Democrat. Democrats also won a majority in the House of Representatives. They now have the opportunity to serve people. So while we are excited and celebrate their victories, we also understand that there is some responsibility, and that time is of the essence.

SCHMITZ: You obviously have a lot to do with this Democratic popularity that we’re seeing right now. I mean, sure, you ran for Senate. You ran for governor. You lost time and time again in both races. But a lot has been won in the background. How do you feel right now, seeing these victories?

O’ROURKE: I’m over the moon. I mean, you know, my wife, Amy, and I, in 2016, when Trump won – I was in Congress at the time – we looked at each other and said, we need to do something more. What we have done so far in Congress is insufficient to the task at hand, to this threat of authoritarianism and fascism and the rise of this oligarchy in America. We had to do something.

And from there was born this crazy idea of ​​Texas’ chance to run for Senate in a state that last elected a Democrat to the Senate in 1988. And I was joined by hundreds of thousands – and in the end, millions – of my fellow Texans who believed in this dream. And so it wasn’t so much, you know, whether Beto O’Rourke should serve in the Senate or, you know, my name on office or on a ballot. That’s right, can we change this state? And by extension, given Texas’ outsized importance, can we change this country?

SCHMITZ: Well, Beto O’Rourke, since I have you here, I should ask you if you’re considering running for president in 2028.

O’ROURKE: No, I don’t, but I’m going to be involved in some way. This extraordinary experience, ongoing for 250 years and which is the product of so much service, sacrifice and struggle, we must all do everything we can to continue it. So that’s my mission. That’s what I’m going to focus on. And wherever I can be helpful or useful, that’s where you’ll find me.

SCHMITZ: This is former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke. Thank you very much for joining us.

O’ROURKE: Thank you.

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