Beto O’Rourke Wants To Focus On Big Items That Unite People – Midland Reporter-Telegram

“The unfortunate news is that, this state, our governor, the Legislature and the people who are there to represent us and take care of us have done nothing meaningfully significant to ensure that this does not happen again if we have another extreme weather event,” O’Rourke said. “As I drove down here from Lubbock today, I saw pumpjacks and flares and all the signs of the wealth of oil and gas production, exploration and transmission literally the energy that fuels Texas, the rest of the country and the world. … Despite all of that power we couldn’t keep the lights on, and it doesn’t look like we can keep the lights on going forward in an event like that.”

The Democrat spoke about the perseverance of Texans and how they looked after each other during that difficult time. His takeaway from that time is that while those in power might have failed Texans, the state’s residents were not going to fail each other or have a difference to keep people from helping each other. 

O’Rourke said he is running on a few major issues, including jobs, health care, mental health and public education. He said he wants to create the best jobs in America and keep them in Texas. 

“Well, how do we get there (creating the best jobs) because that sounds like a wonderful aspiration in a state where 40 percent of the population doesn’t make a living wage,” he said. “Well, a couple of things. First, we make sure the electricity grid works. Secondly, we end the extreme and fringe legislation that is coming out of Austin right now. These culture wars are pitting us against each other, trying to make us afraid of one another due to our differences. On the issue of jobs I want to make sure that we are healthy enough and well enough to live to our full potential.”

The county jail system in West Texas is the largest provider of mental health care services in the states of Texas, he added. He said there are children in Child Protective Services custody that are sleeping in hallways and under desks. 

“When we have so many going without what they need to be at their best, it is really hard to produce a workforce competitive in those jobs,” he said. 

O’Rourke said he wants to make sure Texas has a world class public education system. He added that teachers shouldn’t have to work multiple jobs to make sure their classrooms are well-supplied. 

“That classroom teacher in this great state of Texas is underpaid about $10,000 from the average United States teacher,” he said. “As governor, I’m going to make sure we pay her enough so that she only has one job, focusing on those kids.” 

He said another issue which can be worked on together — not just as Democrats and not as Republicans but as Texans — is to expand Medicaid in the state. 

“Texas is the least insured state in the country,” he said. “We’re asking law enforcement, sheriff’s deputies, police chiefs and constables to meet that mental health care demand right now instead of expanding Medicaid when the federal government would pay 95 cents on the dollar of expansion. Money could have come to counties like Midland to pay for more doctors and nurses, connect more people to care and ensure Texans are healthy enough to live to their full potential.”

He said the issues he is running on aren’t controversial and aren’t culture war issues. 

“In fact, they’re the very issues that can bring Texans together,” he said. “We realize this state is big enough for all of us, regardless of our differences and we are firmly focused on the future.” 

In an interview with the media, O’Rourke touched on immigration. He said that people who don’t come to the U.S. lawfully or have a legitimate asylum claim must be sent back to their country. He added that there needs to be rule of law and an orderly process for people who want to come to the United States. He said laws need to be updated, and Texas should be taking the lead in rewriting immigration policy, which hasn’t happened since Ronald Reagan was president.

In regards to the reproductive health care ban, he said it is the “cruelest, most vicious piece of legislation passed and signed anywhere in the country.” He added that it is making it not only dangerous for women seeking an abortion but it will also worsen the maternal mortality crisis. 

“It is very dangerous and very cruel,” he said. “As governor, I will repeal the reproductive health care ban and I will trust women to make their own decisions about their own bodies, their own health care and their own future.”