Can Beto O’Rourke get college students to the polls?

PHOTOS: Where they stand Beto O'Rourke holds a town hall in Odessa, Texas on Monday, July 30. >>Find out where Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz stand on the issues in the photos that follow... PHOTOS: Where they stand Beto O'Rourke holds a town hall in Odessa, Texas on Monday, July 30. >>Find out where Beto O'Rourke and Ted Cruz stand on the issues in the photos that follow... Photo: Jacy Lewis Photo: Jacy Lewis Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Can Beto O’Rourke get college students to the polls? 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke is putting on an aggressive push to get college students to the polls.

O’Rourke is on a weeklong tour of a dozen college campuses in Texas trying to get traditionally low-turnout college voters to show up in big numbers on Nov. 6. He kicked off the tour Tuesday with a stop at Austin Community College.

“Whether it’s health care, climate change, higher education, immigration, justice reform or ensuring everyone is treated with dignity and respect, students are core to this moment and it’s our responsibility to follow their lead, listen to their voices and make their ideas part of this campaign,” O’Rourke said.

The Democratic El Paso congressman is running against incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz in a tight race, according to recent polling.

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O’Rourke is targeting a population that is traditionally hard to get out in presidential elections, and even more so in midterm election cycles, said Republican political strategist Brendan Steinhauser. He said in midterm elections, the electorate is generally older and it is harder to get people under 40 out to vote.

Nationally, just 17 percent of people between 18 to 24 cast a ballot in the 2014 midterm elections.

But O’Rourke has eschewed the conventional campaign path for Democrats in Texas. This summer, he spent 34 days barnstorming rural areas of the state that have been virtually ignored by other Democrats running for statewide office.

jeremy.wallace@chron.com