O’Rourke Seeking 'Something Incredible' From Willie Nelson to Stay Competitive as Early Voting Looms

AUSTIN, TX -- El Paso Democrat Congressman Beto O’Rourke enlists the help of celebrities to shore up his fledgling campaign with three weeks left before early voting begins.  

According to a press release, O’Rourke will continue his campaign for the U.S. Senate with a return to Austin for a concert and rally at Auditorium Shores. The concert will be open to the public and feature musical guests including Willie Nelson, Leon Bridges, Lukas Nelson, Micah Nelson, Carrie Rodriguez, Tameca Jones and Joe Ely.

This event follows O’Rourke’s travels to all 254 counties of Texas and his most recent 34-day, 7,000 mile drive across the state, as he continues campaigning from behind for votes from Republicans, Democrats, Independents and non-voters alike. O’Rourke will speak during the show between musical sets on the shores of the Colorado River.

This event will not be the first time O’Rourke has desperately sought help from Willie Nelson. O'Rourke recently took the stage as a guest at Willie's July 4th Picnic, where he joined the band to play guitar and sing during the final medley of songs.

"Amy and I have had the amazing opportunity to talk with Willie and his wife, Annie, about the kind of future we want for our state when everything we care about is on the line," said O'Rourke. "We are grateful to have Willie's support as we continue running this race the right way: no PACs, no corporations, no special interests -- just the people of Texas coming together to do something absolutely incredible."

The concert and rally follow O’Rourke’s announcement that his campaign raised more than $10.4 million in the second quarter of 2018. New polling has shown the race tightening and regularly within the margin of error. The latest Quinnipiac University poll shows Cruz up over O’Rourke by nine points among likely voters.  

As we reported only last week, Texas voters in a border senate race rejected long time liberal Democrat Pete Gallego in favor of Republican Pete Flores and it wasn’t even close.  Flores easily won by six percentage points, 53 percent to 47 percent. Democrats had held that Texas Senate seat for 139 years.

Tom Green County GOP Chairman Jeff Betty said after that election, “A retired law enforcement officer, Flores will end the corruption as he ends the stereotype that Democrat candidates can assume Hispanic Texans will vote for them.  Texas and San Antonio will benefit from his honesty and work ethic. Additionally, I think this election and the latest poll showing Cruz with a dominant lead makes it clear that the upcoming election will be a good one for Republicans here in Texas.”  

Early voting for the Nov. 6 general election begins Monday, Oct. 22 and runs through Friday, Nov. 2.  Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 6.