AUSTIN, Texas — To close out his latest statewide speaking tour, Beto O'Rourke hosted a rally at the Texas Capitol on Sunday to pressure Congress into taking action on voting rights legislation pending before the body.
O'Rourke, a former congressman and presidential candidate from El Paso, has been crisscrossing the state as part of his "For the People: The Texas Drive For Democracy" tour, holding events in different corners of the state. Sunday's rally in Austin featured remarks from O'Rourke as well as Julián Castro, a 2020 presidential candidate; U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin; and several state lawmakers.
Texas Democrats have been working to maintain momentum on voting rights issues since the end of this year's legislative session, when House Democrats busted quorum in the final hours of the session to kill a GOP elections bill. The same members met recently with party leaders in Washington to discuss the walkout and show support for national leaders working to pass their own voting rights measure.
O'Rourke's rally focused on both the For the People Act before Congress and the looming special legislative session in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott said lawmakers will again attempt to pass the GOP elections bill that was killed during the regular session.
Abbott has yet to formally order the 30-day special session, but he promised that the agenda will include the elections bill and other conservative priorities that were unsuccessful in the regular session, including a bill to limit bail opportunities for violent and sex-related crimes and a measure to limit how race can be discussed in Texas classrooms.
The agenda also will include funding for the legislative branch, after Abbott vetoed the portion of the state's two-year budget that pays salaries for the House, Senate and other agencies in retaliation for Democrats' walkout.
"Funding should not be provided for those who quit their job early," Abbott said in a Friday statement accompanying his veto.
If lawmakers do not approve a spending bill to fund Article X of the budget during the special session, budgets for legislative staffs, the Legislative Budget Board and other support agencies will be zeroed out on Sept. 1, when the next biennial budget goes into effect.
While the focus of Sunday's rally and the earlier stops on his tour have been on voting rights, O'Rourke has also fielded questions about his political future going into 2022. O'Rourke skyrocketed to national acclaim during his 2018 U.S. Senate campaign when he narrowly lost to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. His campaign was marked by similar speaking tours across Texas and a boast of having visited each of the state's 254 counties while on the campaign trail.
O'Rourke launched a presidential campaign the next year but suspended his campaign months later. At the time, he faced pressure from some political operatives to run again for the Senate in Texas, but he declined to enter the race, instead returning to El Paso, where he campaigned on behalf of other Democrats running in the state.
But 2022 could be the year O'Rourke runs again in Texas, this time for a different statewide seat: governor.
In January, O'Rourke told a local radio station that he is considering challenging Abbott, and an aide told The Associated Press in May that he is still considering a campaign, although he had not taken any formal steps toward running at the time.
Abbott is already facing one primary challenger going into his reelection campaign: former state Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas. Texas GOP Chairman Allen West is also considering challenging Abbott, announcing earlier this month that he will step down from his post leading the state party in July.
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