AUSTIN, Texas — On Monday, the Democratic candidate for governor Beto O’Rourke kicked off his college tour. He started at UT Austin and then traveled to UT San Antonio.
A crowd of students at UT Austin sang “happy birthday” to O’Rourke after finding out it was his 50th birthday. He then went into a speech that largely focused on the history of voting rights in America. He reminded many first-time voters that casting a ballot is a way to define the future of Texas.
O’Rourke, an El Paso native, won the support of another El Paso citizen. Sophia Ramirez is a freshman at UT Austin. She supports O’Rourke’s stances on abortion and gun legislation. She said she hasn’t always been proud to be from Texas.
“I never have had a lot of good things to say about Texas. It’s always kind of been like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m from Texas. I’m not very proud of that. It’s just where I happened to be born,’” Ramirez said. “But if this election kind of turns things around, and we can get a candidate who will actually bring good change to Texas, maybe I can say something different now.”
Jake Cleveland is a graduate student at the university. He said he’s voting for O’Rourke because he believes women should have the right to an abortion. Recently, almost all abortions were outlawed in the state.
“I just think that democracy’s on the balance here,” Cleveland said. “I think the values that we collectively hold as a nation and as a state are really up for grabs. I think we have a chance to either revitalize the democracy that has been on a backslide for the last couple of years, or it’s going to be going down a dark path.”
Gov. Greg Abbott’s team did not respond to a request for comment. With a little more than a month to go before the midterm election, a majority of young voters say they plan to pick O’Rourke over Abbott. According to an exclusive Spectrum News-Siena College poll, O’Rourke leads Abbott with likely voters ages 18 to 34 by 26 points. The poll also shows that older voters are more likely to vote for Abbott. The governor still leads O’Rourke overall by seven points, according to the poll.
Texas had more than 17 million registered voters as of March, according to the Secretary of State. Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, the president and executive director of the progressive youth voting organization NextGen America, said one in three voters in Texas is under the age of 30, and the best way to get them to vote is by a peer telling them to. She also said reaching voters multiple times online and in-person is key to getting young people to the polls.
“Everyone’s an influencer. Everyone has a platform. And usually everyone’s on social media in some way,” said Tzintzún Ramirez. “So we really encourage young people to share who they’re voting for, why they’re voting, and it drives up turnout among other people.”
Tzintzún Ramirez ran for U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 2020, but lost in the primary.
Sophomore Rachael Taylor registered to vote for the first time at O’Rourke’s UT Austin event.
“It’s really important to cast your vote and really stand up for what you believe in,” Taylor said.
O’Rourke said 89 students registered to vote. Others checked their registration status or changed their address.
“They’re not turning out here for me. They’re not turning out for the democratic party. They’re turning out for our country and our state and this great democracy,” O’Rourke said.