Be to Texas the Leader It Needs
Beto announces his bid for Governor in Texas
DATELINE: November 15, 2021
Robert Francis O’Rourke, better known as “Beto,” announced his bid today to become the next governor of the great state of Texas. This is the third candidacy for O’Rourke since serving three terms in the House of Representatives, losing in 2018 to Ted Cruz (U.S. Senate) and failing to win the Democratic nomination in 2020 for U.S. president.
Beto, a former punk rocker and business man from El Paso, made the announcement in a YouTube video where he touched on just a few of the issues facing Texas: he spent a good portion of his announcement telling Texans they were “abandoned by those who were elected to serve” the people. O’Rourke’s message attempted to convince Texans their elected officials have “stopped listening and paying attention to the people of Texas.” He said those current office holders — the Republicans, who he never mentioned — are “not focused on the things we want them” to work on, like the grid, jobs, schools, Medicaid and legalizing marijuana.
I’m not sure how important these particular issues are to the people of Texas, but they’re not the ones I’ve been hearing about in the News. Abortion, immigration — to include the ‘wall’ — voting rights, and of course mask and vaccine mandates have captured national attention more than the ones he mentioned.
Beto did give a slight mention to a couple of volatile issues Republicans support — abortion and permitless carry — but spent more time reminding everyone how Texans “came together” during the Great Texas Freeze Out last winter. Beto believes Texans came together “out of a sense of duty to each other” and he wants to continue that sense of community by inviting supporters to be a part of his campaign. He closed with “I want to win this campaign with you.”
Let’s break this down a sec: Beto blew it.
In his 2+ minute video announcement, Beto never landed a serious blow to Republicans on the despicable actions they have taken regarding the most serious issues effecting Texans: how they passed a reprehensible abortion law; how they scorched voting rights for millions in the state; and how all of Texas has still not learned how to wear a mask or get a vaccine. If these are the most important issues of the day — AND THEY ARE — Beto never mentioned them, and he failed to call out the Hero of the Henchmen, Greg Abbott, as the leader of those hurting Texans. Beto had a great chance to land a one-two punch square on the jaw of Abbott, but he whiffed.
Talking about the issues has never been a problem for Beto: presenting plans to address them has. Beto is fluent in more than just various languages: he truly has a feel for the people. His charm, his charisma provides a conduit of connection other candidates drool over. Unfortunately, where Beto is strong on oration, he has been weak on execution.
People need to be reminded of the issues — not the opponent’s position — then presented with a reasonable plan that can make a difference in their lives. Here’s a video from the 2018 Senate campaign, where Beto met with Stephen Colbert.
In this interview, Beto and Stephen discuss how Beto’s campaign went to all 254 counties in Texas; how they had numerous town halls; and how he listened to the people of Texas. When asked about the wall, he tells Colbert “we don’t need a wall” then goes on to suggest Texas “should be able to lead on that” but never offers even one concrete way to do that.
And that has been Beto’s Achilles Heel: a lack of concrete plans he can use when asking people for their vote.
Voters are listening Beto, but if you have nothing more to offer them other than “Republicans stopped listening” then you are not going to win their votes. People need to know you’ve heard them by being able to see and hear the solid ideas you have to change how Texas operates. What will you do if the people of Texas give you the chance to lead? If you can’t even mention the most important issues of the day in your announcement video, how can you propose to Texans that you can solve them?
Voting rights and redistricting is happening everywhere right now, and Texas is no different. Republicans are lunging at the opportunity to redraw congressional districts in ways that benefit them only: a process called gerrymandering. The GOP in Texas has done such an ugly job of gerrymandering the current governor is being sued over it. But you wouldn’t know redistricting was important listening to Beto, who instead chose to mention medical marijuana in his announcement video. Beto has said that Texas is the most diverse state in the union, and he’s right: Texas is home to millions of Latinos and Blacks. Which of these issues is more important to those voters: legal marijuana or the right to vote and have that vote count?
Big issues need big leaders, and time will tell if that is Beto O’Rourke. One of the issues most likely to effect his campaign will be guns, as gun rights are all the rage in Texas.
During the 2020 presidential debates, Beto was asked — after the Walmart mass murder in El Paso — his position on assault rifles. His answer will be twisted and turned by his opponent in this race, but his answer was dead on:
O’Rourke made clear that he believed weapons made for war have no place in our communities. He had personally comforted those who had lost loved ones to gun violence, and his clear answer on this issue was the best answer given by any candidate. Beto pulled no punches: he knew the issue, he knew his position, and he articulated it perfectly. That is the Beto that can win in Texas: clear-headed on the issues and concise with the answers.
In 2018, while campaigning for the Senate, Beto was asked about another issue that people were stymied over: kneeling during NFL football games. Colin Kaepernick had taken to kneeling during the playing of the national anthem to peacefully protest the senseless and repeated violence being perpetrated by police against Blacks. Beto was asked where he stood, so to speak, on the issue, and his answer was pitch perfect.
Beto has potential, but he needs guidance: he needs to focus his energy on presenting his vision of Texas, a vision far different than his opponent, and he needs to speak to the important issues of the day. And he needs to keep listening to Texans, because if there is one thing missing from today’s politics, it’s a connection between candidates and voters.
Just ask Terry McAuliffe.
In 2018, Beto O’Rourke came within 215,000 votes of beating a sitting U.S. Senator, Raphael ‘Ted’ Cruz. Here is a map of the county-by-county breakdown of voting in that race.
It took me a bit of time to see it, but I think I see where Beto lost that race: Harris County and Tarrant County. Harris County, home to Houston — the fourth largest city in the U.S. — is the third-largest county in the nation, where more than 4.7 million Texans now call home.
Tarrant County is the home of Fort Worth, the third-largest county in Texas, with a population over 2.1 million.
Looking at that 2018 voting map, and the voting data, Beto won Harris County, but not by the margin he should have won by. The difference in Harris County was a little more than 201,000 votes in a county with only 1.2 million votes cast.
Tarrant County was far worse, where Beto won by only 4300 votes; a decisive win in those two counties with large cities — principally Democratic strongholds — would have placed Beto in the U.S. Senate and Ted Cruz on the Fox News payroll.
Beto raised a ton of money for that race, but was unable to translate that into votes, and into victory. How much will it cost to put Beto in the governor’s mansion in Austin? I’m not sure how much money will be spent, but if the number of emails I’m getting from his campaign is any indicator — I have received 13 emails in just the first four days — then supporters will be drowned by next year. And that doesn’t bode well for Beto.
Beto needs to put more boots on the ground in these counties in order to greatly increase the number of Democratic voters that show up, and change those “R” voters in Tarrant county to “D.” In Harris County, he now has a strong ally to help him: Judge Lina Hidalgo.
Lina Hidalgo is the Chief Executive Officer of Harris County. She is smart, cool-headed, Latina, and a woman — everything Beto is not (OK, maybe he’s smart). If he is smart, he will have already reached out to Lina for help in growing that base of registered voters. Judge Hidalgo is running for re-election also, and is beginning to feel the negative impact of the crooked Texas voting law newly passed on Abbott’s watch. Together, Beto and Lina can do a lot to get more Democratic voters to show up and vote for this election.
I’ll write it here, but I doubt this will happen: Beto would be real smart — if he wins the Democratic primary for this race — to ask Lina to be his lieutenant governor. She can balance out his white-man ticket in the same way Kamala Harris helped balance out the ticket for Joe Biden. Having a competent running mate that is complimentary would surely help Beto turn out more Latinos come election day.
Like other Democrats running for office, Beto has cranked up the email machine: it is one of the top tools used by Democrats for fundraising. They use emails like telemarketers use the phone, calling regularly to remind you that their candidate is fighting for you, and that these races are very expensive — brother, can you spare a dime?
Beto’s campaign has pounded my email box with about a dozen emails already: I just received another one as I write this: this one asks me to complete “the survey.” Val Demings had a survey: isn’t that interesting. So did Terry McAuliffe. Hmm.
Beto made a few very interesting comments in that campaign video that caught my ear. He asked people to be a part of this campaign: with you, he said, he can win this race. He asked for supporters to contribute their money, their time, or even just to chat with a neighbor about the importance of the issues in this race. He needs his supporters “involved.”
I tried to get involved in Val Demings’ race, offering her the best support I could: writing. I’m not a wealthy person, but I do have an ability to put thoughts together to make a reasonable argument, which not everyone has mastered. Certainly not Val’s email staffers, who send the same boring emails about what Marco Rubio — her opponent — is doing. Or the story about her childhood: I love that story! OMG, I could tell it myself in my sleep!
Democratic campaigns like Demings and McAuliffe are doomed, because they follow the traditional Dem playbook: announce your candidacy, ask for a donation, get the supporters email, then pound the living bejesus out of them until they give or block you. Some strategy Jaime!
I wrote to the Demings campaign: email, snail mail — hell, I even tried to reach her through her Congressional office. When I got zip from her, I wrote to the Big Dog himself, Mr. Jaime Harrison, head of the DNC. Jaime and Val must use the same garbage collector, because I never got a response from letters I sent to their offices.
But my-oh-my how I get the emails. Somehow, I now get emails from every new Democrat that announces their campaign anywhere in America. People who I have never heard of are now sending me emails, thanking me for “joining the campaign,” and asking — no, hounding me — for support.
I also reached out to the miserably inept campaign of Terry McAuliffe, but they were so damned busy changing the name of the campaign every five minutes they had no time to respond to me. McAuliffe followed the magic Dem playbook and his campaign fell flat on it’s ass.
Another mistake Dems make is to rely too heavily on endorsements from other Democrats. For my money, I could care less if Barack Obama supports you or not: what do regular people say about you?
I think Democrats need to stop using the traditional email-the-shit-out-of-it playbook and the endorsements-are-us routine and try doing something completely different, like interacting with supporters.
From Demings, to Harrison, to McAuliffe, I have pleaded with these campaigns to start interacting with supporters. Here’s how it could work.
Beto could start having daily Zoom sessions with supporters: people that contribute to his campaign could be emailed (I know, I KNOW!) that Beto would like to invite them to a Zoom session. Each day he could spend an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening listening to supporters: this would encourage those, like me, that live nowhere near him, to continue to be a part of the team — just like he said he wants.
Beto could have a “Breakfast with Beto” Zoom, and a “Tomorrow’s Texas” in the evenings. Each Zoom session would be limited to twelve supporters and one hour: this gives everyone a chance to be heard. Many campaigns would automatically shut out Republicans here, but I think it could be a great chance for Beto to listen to some of them as well: hey — they vote — and if they come on the Zoom, they just might decide they like what they see: an intelligent, caring person who wants to address their needs from the Governor’s office.
These are not campaign stops for Beto to blabber on: these are listening posts, a chance for a candidate to hear from those he needs to engage, to earn their vote and support by actually being there, listening to them, formulating his policies based on what the people need.
Isn’t that exactly what Beto said Republicans aren’t doing, listening to the needs of the people of Texas?
Listen up, Beto, and listen good: if you are going to win the office, you have to win the hearts of Texans, and that is best accomplished by listening to them, not talking down, over, or around them.
A few last comments.
Beto dodged some of the big-ticket topics in his campaign announcement, and there’s no going back to fix that now. But what he can do is begin to create plans based on the conversations he has with real Texans, then publish them for everyone to see. Medium.com is just one platform used by politicians to share ideas. The important thing to remember is to show something to the people: show them your plans for their future.
Voting rights is a big issue in Texas. Beto could publish his own thoughts on voting right here, where everyone could read it: kind of like the idea I had about voting that I published.
Another major issue facing Texas is the border crisis, which is entangled with immigration, the ‘wall,’ and so many other issues in Texas. Beto could articulate his ideas on how “Texas should be able to lead on that,” as he told Stephen Colbert, and share them right here online.
Use this internet to meet supporters: listen to them. Formulate policy decisions with them in mind — include them! Confirm you heard them by leading with concrete plans, not just rhetoric about what the other side is doing or not doing.
Trust me on this: voters don’t give a damn about what the ‘other side’ is saying, or doing, or if they drop dead. We need common sense, and leaders that hear us, include us, and know how to create solutions. Unfortunately, Democrats have become the “whiners” to the Republicans “complainers.”
People need solutions, not more emails asking for more money. Give them a chance to meet with the candidate, and that might create more than a spark: it might just ignite the whole state of Texas. Get people talking about you, how you are truly including them, how you spend every day listening to them, building the bonds of trust with the community — unlike the ‘other’ guy.
Beto can win this race for Governor in Texas, but unlike his Democratic ‘friends’ in other states, he needs to Be To others what he wants them to be: caring. He needs to Be To others the leader they need.
Beto needs to Be To Texans what they have needed all along: a good Texan.
© Timothy J. Sabo
