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Beto O'Rourke is reportedly planning on running for Governor of Texas. For Democrats, it is the hope of a comeback for O'Rourke, while some Republicans are licking their chops and ready to go after O'Rourke who moved to the left during his last campaign for office.

On Wednesday, September 15th, Scott Braddock of Quorum Report had tweeted that there were "rumblings" of an O'Rourke announcement "soon". On Sunday, the website Axios reported that O'Rourke is indeed planning a "Texas comeback". According to Axios, O'Rourke has been making calls to allies seeking advice on his potential campaign.

“We hope that he’s going to run,” Gilberto Hinojosa, the state chair of the Democratic Party, told Axios. “We think he’ll be our strongest candidate. We think he can beat Abbott, because he’s vulnerable.”

A recent poll showed that Governor Greg Abbott led Beto O'Rourke in a hypothetical matchup 42%-37%. Though in July another poll had Abbott up 45%-33% over O'Rourke.

Of course many on the left are pointing to Abbott's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and believe that Abbott is vulnerable because of that. What they haven't brought up is that Beto O'Rourke is no longer seen by many as the O'Rourke who ran against Senator Ted Cruz.

In O'Rourke's failed Presidential campaign he moved much further left. One famous example was his stance on ownership of AR-15's. In April of 2018 when O'Rourke appeared on my radio show he told the audience:

“If you purchased that AR-15, if you own it, keep it. Continue to use it responsibly.”

He added: “If you own a gun, keep that gun. Nobody wants to take it away from you — at least I don’t want to do that.”

Then, during the third Democrat Presidential Debate, O'Rourke told the national audience "Hell yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47." You can see the two clips below.

 

While O'Rourke's gun confiscation remarks may have played well among national Democrats, there is little evidence that it will do well for him in Texas, which is still a red state.

Republicans can't go into this race expecting O'Rourke to lose and that this will be an easy campaign. But with O'Rourke's views on guns, the border wall, energy production, and more exposed during his failed Presidential run, they will have plenty to attack O'Rourke with.

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