The fierce exchanges came during a fast-paced televised debate Friday evening — the only such meeting scheduled between the two candidates in the Texas governor’s race.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Friday defended busing migrants out of state to liberal cities, while his Democratic rival, Beto O’Rourke, called Abbott’s rhetoric on immigration “hateful” and said his conduct in the aftermath of a mass shooting should disqualify him from serving in the state’s top job.
The contentious exchanges came during a fast-paced televised debate Friday evening — the only such scheduled meeting between the two candidates competing in one of the most closely watched contests of the fall. The hour-long exchange, in Edinburg, near the state’s southern border, was dominated by disputes over guns and immigration. It was largely consistent with the competition in recent months, in a state still reeling from a mass shooting in May.
“There should be accountability up and down the ballot, beginning with Greg Abbott,” O’Rourke said as he accused the two-term governor of failing to act to prevent the deadly mass shooting at a school in Uvalde, Tex., and to take meaningful actions in the aftermath of it to prevent another one. “I think he has lost the right to serve this state in the most important position of public trust.”
Abbott, who is leading in most polls, sought to blame many of the state’s woes on President Biden, invoking his name four times during the first 12 minutes of the debate — largely to blame Biden for the increase in migration across the southern border.
Abbott used a legal argument to push back on a demand from O’Rourke and some of the shooting victims’ families who want the state to raise the age limit for buying certain firearms to 21. Florida passed a similar measure in the aftermath of the Parkland mass shooting.
