He can’t succeed, not at this time and not in the near future, but aim big and make it clear what the stakes are.
In the days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Democrats at rallies and protests in Texas said the November election is key for protecting reproductive rights.
In an interview after a Sunday rally in Austin, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke told The Texas Tribune he would work to repeal Texas’ abortion ban and expand access to reproductive health care if he is elected. Rochelle Garza, the Democratic nominee for attorney general, said she would partner with other lawyers to stop enforcement of the state’s abortion laws.
But these promises may be hard to keep if Democrats on the statewide ballot in November win. They would have to work with a Legislature that is likely to remain dominated by Republicans. Still, working with the GOP, O’Rourke said, is part of a functioning democracy.
“Just imagine the shockwaves this will send if for the first time in 32 years, Texas elects a Democrat as governor, a governor who won on the right of every woman to make her own decision about her own body, her own future, and her own health care,” O’Rourke said. “You know the Legislature will not only take notice, they will be forced to act in more of our common interest, instead of this extreme, fringe set of policies they have been pursuing over the last decade.”
He also said he’s hopeful the outrage among voters over the end of constitutional protections for abortion will translate to a more balanced Legislature come November and “change the dynamics in the Capitol.”
As I’ve said before, nobody knows right now what the effect of SCOTUS overturning Roe will be in Texas. Early polling suggests that Democrats are fired up about this, but it’s too early to know if that will persist, and it’s too early to feel confident that other news will not displace it in the forefront. Historic polling has shown there to be about a 2-1 majority opposed to making abortion harder to get in Texas, but that was composed of roughly equal parts “make abortion easier to get” and “keep current laws as they are”. Which, as you may recall, was pretty strict even before SB8 passed.
I believe Beto has done a good job of engaging Democratic voters, who from where I sit look to be reasonably enthusiastic about voting in Texas. I think he’ll get some tailwind from the overturning of Roe. I don’t know how that compares to the already-existing enthusiasm on the Republican side, or whether this decision will add any juice to it or not have much effect. We’re going to need a lot of polling data to begin to get a picture, and of course the campaigns themselves have a lot to say about this as well. I tend to be optimistic (a hard thing to be these days), and I think Beto has run a good campaign so far. I’m just reluctant to speculate beyond that at this time.