Beto O'Rourke plans big Houston area push this weekend

Armed with a new poll showing he's closing in on U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, Democrat Beto O'Rourke is planning a two-day campaign binge in the Houston area this weekend to build momentum for his U.S. Senate campaign.

On Saturday O'Rourke joins U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer at a private fundraiser in Houston at 10 a.m., then goes to a climate forum on Saturday at 1 p.m. and a Missouri City town hall at 3 p.m.

On Sunday, O'Rourke will start a day-long live streaming beginning with a morning run in Memorial Park. The day will include at least three town hall meetings, a live "Bands for Beto" concert at McGonigel's Mucky Duck in Houston.

The livestream will continue while O'Rourke, an El Paso Democrat, drives to Austin and attends a midnight rally there, plus hosts an all-nighter with students from the University of Texas. The live stream will end at 5 a.m. Monday before O'Rourke, a Congressman since 2012, hops a flight to Washington, D.C.

Democrat U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke has been barnstorming across Texas, wooing voters, declining PAC money and aiming to unseat GOP U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.﻿ Democrat U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke has been barnstorming across Texas, wooing voters, declining PAC money and aiming to unseat GOP U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.﻿ Photo: Annie Mulligan, Freelance Photo: Annie Mulligan, Freelance Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Beto O'Rourke plans big Houston area push this weekend 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

O'Rourke's campaign said they want to give people an unvarnished look at what a day of campaigning looks like as he jumps from event to event.

The concentrated Houston-area events come after the Public Policy Polling, or PPP, released new results of 757 person poll of Texas voters that showed Cruz leading O'Rourke in a head to head match up 45 percent to 37 percent with 18 percent undecided.

Check out the full poll here. PPP Texas Poll.

"We've spent the last 10 months hitting the road to visit 205 counties, listening at hundreds of town halls, sharing our positive vision for Texas in donut shops and restaurants and unapologetically putting our faith in the people of this state instead of the PACs and special interests," O'Rourke said.

A full list of events for O'Rourke's Houston events are on his Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pg/betoorourke/events/?ref=page_internal