Beto O’Rourke on Colbert: Texas Leadership Is Turning Back the Clock

NEW YORK, NY — Texas has turned the clock back on voting rights despite the fact that a Texan, President Lyndon Johnson, signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965, claimed Democrat candidate for Texas governor Beto O’Rourke.

During a special 2021 Texas Legislature session, lawmakers led by Republicans passed a myriad of voter security measures, to include outlawing 24-hour polling locations and drive-through voting. The law, signed in September 2021 by Governor Greg Abbott who O’Rourke wants to unseat on Nov. 8, ratcheted up restrictions on mail-in voting procedures by requiring a driver’s license or social security number on the ballot. The sweeping reforms also gave partisan poll watchers more autonomy inside polling locations so those volunteers could closely observe the voting processes.

Abbott’s push for stricter laws to enforce voting security wasn’t the only issue O’Rourke had with his opponent and the Republicans in charge of the state government. Abortion and gay marriage were on his mind as well.

“Texas which produced Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade and Sarah Coffee and her two attorneys who successfully prevailed on an all male Supreme Court to make abortion legal 49 years ago, that’s the state that outlawed abortion beginning at conception with no exception for rape or incest. Same for gay marriage. You would have thought this issue was settled,” O’Rourke complained to Stephen Colbert Thursday night on the CBS Late Show.

“That’s why we’re in this race to get Texas back to a place where we can all be proud of it.,” O’Rourke said.

Over the past few months, O’Rourke has closed in on Abbott in the polls. The latest poll, according to RealClearPolitics.com, has O’Rourke within five points of Abbott, 48 percent to 43 percent. The RCP average of five polls since February 2022 has Abbott up by 6.4 percent.