Abbott, O’Rourke to meet Friday for first and only debate
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(NewsNation) — With less than two months to go before Texans elect their next governor, both candidates are turning up the heat on the trail.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott will debate Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke on Friday at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburgh, Texas. NewsNation will broadcast the event live from 7-8 p.m. CT/8-9 p.m. ET and will answer viewer questions each day leading up to the debate.
O’Rourke is expected to sound off loudly on abortion rights, and Abbott on immigration.
“The only poll that matters is the one we take on election day …”O’Rourke said this past weekend in Austin, addressing the latest polling not trending his way.
He also aimed criticism at members of his own party, accusing President Joe Biden and other Democrats of “phoning in” their last elections, campaigning from a distance, and taking voters of color for granted.
“Candidate Biden didn’t spend a dime or day in the Rio Grande Valley, or really anywhere in Texas for that matter once we got to the home stretch of the general election,” O’Rourke said.
The democratic challenger is betting on a big turnout of voters who disagree with, and have been energized by, the state’s recent abortion restrictions.
Abbott’s former spokesman John Wittman believes abortion rights will have a “huge impact” on the debate. He says most Texans support abortion rights.
“No doubt that Beto wants to push that issue … Greg, on the other hand, wants to focus on immigration and on the economy,” Wittman said Monday night on NewsNation’s “Rush Hour.”