Indivisible Austin is proud to endorse Beto O’Rourke for U.S. Senate. We have watched O’Rourke’s campaign closely over the last several months, and we have been excited to see him criss-cross the state to meet with Texans at hundreds of public meetings. In sharp contrast to the incumbent, who seems to spend more time in Iowa than in Texas, O’Rourke has met with thousands of Texans this August alone, welcoming questions from people of all political stripes, and rejecting PAC and large donations.
Texas has become ground zero for attacks on some of our most vulnerable communities. DACA recipients; immigrant children separated from their families; people in the LGBTQ community targeted through arbitrary bathroom bills; literally anyone with a pre-existing condition—all face Texas-size opposition from a GOP-dominated congressional delegation and state legislature.
Texas needs a senator who can face these challenges and more. Texas needs Beto O’Rourke.
More than 500 families remain separated at the border, including parents who have already been deported while their children remain in holding facilities. Reports have emerged of horrific physical, sexual, and psychological abuse of children. Since the Trump administration began separating families, O’Rourke has emerged as a leader on immigration policy who—again, in sharp contrast to his opponent—values human rights and respect for others over fear-mongering to gain political points.
His common-sense positions on gun control—such as requiring background checks on all firearm sales and banning the sale of weapons of war and high-capacity magazines—would limit gun violence while preserving Second Amendment rights.
He views health care as a basic human right—not a privilege—and favors strengthening the Affordable Care Act, expanding Medicaid, and ultimately achieving universal health care.
O’Rourke has also emerged as a strikingly unifying candidate running a relentlessly positive campaign on an equally relentless schedule. He has a gift for distilling complex issues into terms voters can connect to, and he is willing to talk to absolutely anyone on any issue, in an open town hall setting.
Consider this video, which has gone viral, in which Rep. O’Rourke politely but firmly disagrees with an audience member on the subject of NFL players kneeling during the National Anthem, and the underlying racial injustice that fuels their protest.
Ted Cruz’s campaign misleadingly edited this video and launched it as an attack ad. This cowardice mirrors Cruz’s disdainful treatment of constituents. During his nearly six years in the Senate he has yet to hold a truly open town hall, and he avoids real issues by grandstanding on the Senate floor, decrying Nancy Pelosi, and running for President. There is nothing more to say about Ted Cruz except that he must go.
We are pleased to endorse Rep. Beto O’Rourke as an inspirational, transformational Texan who has visited all 254 counties in Texas on his quest to unseat Ted Cruz. This endorsement from Indivisible Austin complements the national Indivisible team’s endorsement, and those of multiple other advocacy groups. We are proud to add our name to the list of supporters and give Rep. O’Rourke our full backing.
Missing from your summary is what Texas has been doing to take away the rights of women. What’s up with that? We are many but that doesn’t matter in Texas’ gerrymandered districts: our rights have been evaporating under State Republican rule. In fact, Texas Republicans like to serve our rights up to the Supreme Court, where they can be wiped away completely.
During one of O’Rourke’s rallies, a student asked a question about what to do with Hispanic Immigrants who come here to become U.S. citizens and then (according to the conservative student) that they contribute nothing to the U.S. Of course this was an insult which is what the opposing party is good at.
Beto paused briefly before stating that in fact Hispanic Americans have contributed greatly to the future of America since their participation in World War I, WWII, the Korean War, Desert Storm, and the war on terror in the middle east. Yes there are criminals from some of these places, but the law abiding citizens are many more and continue to grow. If you outcast them, then all you are doing is encouraging more recruitment from terrorist organizations.