Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D. TX) killed it tonight on Real Time with Bill Maher. O’Rourke emphasized his top issues in his campaign are jobs, health care (he backs Bernie Sanders’ Medicare For All bill), immigration, the environment and of course marijuana legalization. His interview showcased his confidence and charisma and it’s worth watching the whole interview:
But here the part that The Dallas Morning News picked up and I had to laugh and agree with it:
In a HBO appearance on Friday, El Paso Rep. Beto O’Rourke didn’t call Texas Sen. Ted Cruz a “giant a--hole.”
He just agreed with late-night host, Bill Maher, who described Cruz as one.
The exchange occurred during O’Rourke’s roughly 10-minute interview with the host of “Real Time with Bill Maher,” as the Democrat hoping to defeat the powerhouse Republican in a closely-watched Senate race described his decision to refuse money from political action committees.
“In this campaign, we have outraised Ted Cruz by well more than $1 million dollars without taking money from PACs. All people, human beings,” O’Rourke said, prompting applause from the audience.
Maher, a left-leaning comedian known for being "politically incorrect," interjected: “Well, don’t forget he’s a giant a--hole.”
“That’s true,” O’Rourke replied, before adding: “Folks, though, will never have to wonder who it is I represent or who I’m voting for. It’s going to be the people of Texas, every single time.”
Of course, Ted Cruz will have a shit storm about this but he was probably going to hit Beto for just going on Bill Maher's show in the first place. But while that moment was true and real, the part of the interview that really stood out to me is that Beto highlights that Texas is a Red State because it’s a non-voting state. He points out how gerrymandered Texas is and how it’s ranked 49% in high voter turnout. That couldn’t be truer:
Deep in the heart of conservative Texas lies its liberal capital of Austin — a city jokingly referred to as “a blueberry in the tomato soup of Texas.” Given its left-leaning politics, it might seem strange that of Austin’s six congressional representatives, five are Republican.
That’s because during 2011 redistricting, Texas Republicans effectively diluted the voting power of Austin — and the equally liberal Travis County it sits in — by splitting the county into five congressional districts and carving Austin into six districts.
But with signs of a blue wave potentially ready to hit Texas along with the rest of the country during the 2018 midterms, some political observers are wondering whether Texas Republicans’ dramatic gerrymandering could backfire. Austin voters now have the potential to erode Republican margins in each of the five Republican-controlled districts and perhaps even flip one — the 21st Congressional District.
“Partisan mapmakers tend to overreach,” said elections analyst Dave Wasserman, the US House editor of the Cook Political Report. “Just because the plan has worked well until now doesn’t mean it will work well in 2018.”
And Texas writer and activist Abby Earle made the exact same point about Texas being a nonvoting state back in 2016:
Everyone has heard the saying that everything in Texas is bigger and better. My hometown alone even made the Guinness World Record for the largest bowl of salsa. But the saying, “everything is bigger and better in Texas” is not the case when it comes to politics. I’m not saying that just because I’m a hardcore Democrat in a predominantly red state. I’m not saying this because it is true that I don’t agree with anything that Gregg Abbot has done or how Ted Cruz has represented Texas. No, I’m saying it because it’s true. By March of 2016, Texas was second from the bottom on voter turnout for the states that had already held their primaries. According to the secretary of state, this was the biggest voter turnout for the primaries ever - with 4.2 million voters casting their vote. That’s only roughly 21.5 percent of the eligible voting population. But Texas should be used to coming in second to last place because during the 2008 presidential general election we came in 47th place. In the 2012 presidential general election, we dropped to 48th place in voter turnout. For a state that has a lot of pride about everything being bigger and better, how does our political facts make you feel about our great state? We’re basically the worst. Texas did not just become one of the worst states at voting over night. It’s been this way for decades. That hurts whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat. We have the second most electoral votes (38) following California who has the most with 55. Why is Texas a non-voting state? It’s a combination of many things.
Texas has a historically low level of competition.
If candidates feel that the competition has little to offer, then funds won’t be spent to reach out and get the voters excited to vote. They will target the population that normally votes and no one else. No one will try and reach out to new voters because who cares that the candidate has “already won” so there’s no need for stirring up any commotion. No one makes the phone calls or knocks on the doors. The voters don’t even know there’s an election going on much less who’s running. So they stay home and don’t vote. Elections aren’t competitive because gerrymandered districts make for non-competitive races.
My vote won’t make a difference.
Many Texans don’t feel that their vote will make a difference. “My vote doesn’t matter. Texas is a Republican state and it’s been that way for twenty years and it’s not changing. One Democratic vote won’t make a change.” One vote might not make a difference, but all those people who say that their vote won’t make a difference would make a difference if they would just get out and vote!
Let’s turn this nonvoting state into a Purple State and then a Blue State this year. Click here to donate and get involved with Beto’s campaign.