Former Texas Representative Beto O’Rourke Talks Trump’s Promise to Americans

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

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Julie Fine (0:07)

We welcome now on Bloomberg TV and radio, former Congressman Beto O'Rourke, who of course ran for Senate against Senator Ted Cruz in 2018 He's now running Powered by People, and he's here with us in our Dallas studio. Congressman, thank you so much for being here. Obviously, you got very close in 2018 2.6 percentage points separated you and Ted Cruz.

You didn't quite make it. And I wonder, eight years later, what forces are in play that make this time around different and gave James Talarico a better chance?

Beto O'Rourke (0:35)

You know, that 2018 race, no one expected a result like that. Largest voter turnout in the midterm in Texas history. We had gotten closer than any Democrat in decades. And there was a seat change in Texas. Though I did not win, we saw a change in power in the state house and county commissioners' courts. And we saw new leaders emerge, one of whom was James Talarico, who was an insurgent Democrat taking on a well-funded incumbent Republican for the state house. That really began his career. What we have right now is someone who's extraordinarily gifted in communicating and connecting with the Texans that he wants to serve, not just Democrats, importantly, but independents and Republicans who are disaffected from the MAGA movement and today's Republican Party. And in addition, we have 150 Democrats running for 150 state house seats. We haven't seen that since 1972, the year that I was born.

So, this is very different from 2018 in the best possible way for Democrats. I strongly believe that we are going to win, and it will not just be for Senate. We have a chance for governor, for these state house seats, and changing control of Congress through the contested congressional elections in the state of Texas.

Kailey Leinz (1:44)

Representative, one thing you do know a lot about is fundraising. You greatly outrace Ted Cruz, and right now James Talarico is greatly outraising his opponent, Attorney General Ken Paxton. However, Attorney General Ken Paxton just got an influx of money from the president. And basically, if the money is there and they're even, what else does James Talarico have to do to reverse the tides for Democrats in Texas?

Beto O'Rourke (2:08)

He's already doing it. He's traveling to meet voters where they are. He's going to the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas that almost no candidate from either party will visit because it's so hard to get to. He's about to start talking to Texans in rural, smaller communities that get written off by one party, left behind by the other.

Money cannot make up that difference. So no matter how much Elon Musk or Donald Trump or any other billionaire or corporation pour into this behind Republicans, James Talarico has the people. And the power of the people of Texas is greater than all of those oligarchs or billionaires or corporations who want to come in.

So that's why you see the desperation of holding a mid-cycle convention in Dallas, Texas. That's why you see the gerrymandering of five seats. That's why you see Trump trying to stop vote by mail. Tarrant County, home to Fort Worth, just closed 92 polling locations. It's the third fastest growing county in the state of Texas. One of them at UTA, which is home to 42,000 students. These are all signs of desperation and panic from that party because they know this guy is going to win. So I feel very good about this, but it doesn't mean our work is over. 54 days left to go and we have to make the most out of every single one of them.

Julie Fine (3:18)

President Trump on the stage night one of the convention last night promised that if the House and Senate are won by Republicans, he'll send every American adult American citizen a $5,000 Trump dividend. How do Democrats compete with that?

Beto O'Rourke (3:31)

What do you promise voters if the president is literally handing out money or says he will want you to be able to see a doctor or afford medication or take your child to a therapist so they're healthy enough and well enough to go to school and do whatever they were placed on this planet to perform in the first place? I want you to earn more than $7.25, which is the minimum wage in Texas, which means if you work one of those jobs, you're working three of those jobs to make ends meet. I want to see your son or daughter who is serving this country in the Navy or the Air Force, the Marines or the Army be able to come back home from another one of these endless wars that we're fighting in the Middle East. In other words, I want to deliver change for you and your family that allows you to believe in the promise of America again. These gimmicks of the $5,000, which will never get paid out because he's offered this before and he's never delivered, they're just not going to find hold with the American people right now. They want real change from real leaders. There's only one party who's offering that right now. It's the Democrats.