O’Rourke: “Our children deserve leadership focused on classrooms, not bathrooms”

El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke officially confirmed what most of us already knew: he will run in the 2018 Democratic Primary for US Senate with the hope of challenging incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

“Are we doing enough? Can we be more effective? Should we wait for things to get better, or is there something we can do?” O’Rourke asked his supporters.

O’Rourke said Texas needs a senator who will honor our country’s commitments to veterans facing long wait times to gain access to health care.

“Our children and schools deserve leadership that is not focused on bathrooms, but is focused on making sure we have better classrooms,” O’Rourke said.

O’Rourke said El Paso is transitioning from the “low-skilled capital of North America” to a high-skilled trade community, following the example of cities like San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Amarillo. He said more needs to be done to train our city’s workforce and attract high-skilled jobs.

The congressman also promised to tackle the opioid crisis that “has left hundreds of thousands of Americans dead in this country.” “We have an opportunity to end this failed war on drugs,” O’Rourke said, reflecting on the movement across the country to decriminalize marijuana.

When talking about the Republican incumbent, O’Rourke said Texas needs a “senator who is working full time for Texas, not a senator who works to serve his own interests, runs for president, who works to shut down the government.”

O’Rourke reminded the crowd he backs term limits in Congress, and if elected to the US Senate, would “serve no more than two terms.”

The El Paso Democrat knows a member of his party has not won a statewide election in decades. “This isn’t really a smart move on my part,” O’Rourke said, “I am counting on you, not corporate interests. We’re working for you. We’re working for Texas. Let’s not talk the talk, let’s walk the walk.”

A liberal Democrat is announcing a campaign today to try to turn TX blue.

Stand with us to #KeepTexasRed: https://t.co/EjzD0Wjgod #TXSen

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 31, 2017

After the presidential election, we were sort of in shock,” said O’Rourke’s wife Amy, “We had conversations and felt the voices here in El Paso weren’t necessarily being reflected statewide and asked ourselves what we could do as a family to try and move things in a positive direction.”

“Beto has a powerful message about the future of the state and the future of the country,” said County Judge Veronica Escobar, “I think there is a path to victory but he’s going to need a lot of support … we need to step up and have his back.”

“I think people are ready for change. I don’t think many people like Ted Cruz and I think everybody likes Beto, so I think you couldn’t have a better matchup,” said former Texas state senator Eliot Shapleigh.

O’Rourke reminded supporters Texas needs a senator who is willing to fight a president who is focused on building walls and rounding up undocumented immigrants. “We need to meet this fear, this paranoia that’s coming out of the White House with the strength and confidence that can only come from Texas.”

Minutes after O’Rourke’s announcement, Sen. Cruz retweeted a tweet from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announcing his endorsement of Cruz for Texas Senate. Cruz also posted a tweet in which he did not acknowledge O’Rourke by name, merely stating, “A liberal Democrat is announcing a campaign today to try to turn TX blue. Stand with us to keep Texas red.”

O’Rourke ended his announcement in El Paso Friday by saying, “If your kids are anything like mine, then you know that sooner or later, they are going to come to you and ask: ‘In 2017, when all of this was happening … mom and dad, what were you doing?'”

“We can wait until 2020 and hope we are successful or we can decide we can take back the country and take back this state in 2018, and 2018 starts right here, right now,” O’Rourke said.