Updated at 8 p.m. Friday: Revised to include O'Rourke's speech at the church.

Senate hopeful Beto O'Rourke on Friday questioned why a black Dallas resident was shot by a police officer while in his apartment.

"How can it be, in this day and age, in this very year, in this community, that a young man, African-American, in his own apartment, is shot and killed by a police officer," O'Rourke told an overflow crowd at the Good Street Baptist Church in Dallas. "And when we all want justice and the facts and the information to make an informed decision, what's released to the public? That he had a small amount of marijuana in his kitchen.”

O'Rourke, who received a standing ovation for his remarks, said the focus should not be on whether Botham Jean had marijuana in his apartment when he was fatally shot by Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger, but on ending unarmed black residents being shot by white police officers.

"That is not justice. That is not us. That can and must change," O'Rourke said of such shootings.

O'Rourke, the El Paso congressman and Democratic nominee for Senate, was in Dallas trying to make greater inroads with black voters.

His rally at Good Street attracted more than 2,000 people, including Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price and state Sen. Royce West.

1 / 6Beto O'Rourke speaks to the crowd during the South Dallas with Beto! event at Good Street Baptist Church in Dallas on Sept. 14, 2018. (Nathan Hunsinger/The Dallas Morning News)(Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) 2 / 6Audience members clap as Beto O'Rourke speaks to the crowd during the South Dallas with Beto! event at Good Street Baptist Church in Dallas on Sept. 14, 2018. (Nathan Hunsinger/The Dallas Morning News)(Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) 3 / 6Audience members cheer as Beto O'Rourke speaks to the crowd during the South Dallas with Beto! event at Good Street Baptist Church in Dallas on Sept. 14, 2018. (Nathan Hunsinger/The Dallas Morning News)(Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) 4 / 6Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley price shakes hands with Beto O'Rourke before giving a speech to the crowd during the South Dallas with Beto! event at Good Street Baptist Church in Dallas on Sept. 14, 2018. (Nathan Hunsinger/The Dallas Morning News)(Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) 5 / 6Beto O'Rourke speaks to the crowd during the South Dallas with Beto! event at Good Street Baptist Church in Dallas on Sept. 14, 2018. (Nathan Hunsinger/The Dallas Morning News)(Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer) 6 / 6A billboard of a tweet by Pres. Donald Trump criticizing Sen. Ted Cruz stands outside a rally for U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) in Dallas, Texas, on Sep. 14, 2018. - O'Rourke is the Democratic challenger for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) (Photo by Laura Buckman / Laura Buckman/AFP / AFP)LAURA BUCKMAN/AFP/Getty Images(LAURA BUCKMAN / Getty Images)

O'Rourke has inspired legions of followers and has become a national celebrity.

But earlier this year, as Betomania raged with white Texans, black and Hispanic residents barely knew his name.

After months of groundwork, O'Rourke appears to be gaining traction with black voters in his Senate race against incumbent Republican Ted Cruz, even though African-Americans are the most reliable base of the Democratic Party.

"We're just trying to show up everywhere and make sure no Texan is taken for granted," O'Rourke said before his speech.

Good Street Baptist Church, a historic venue that played a critical role in Dallas' civil rights movement, is one of several black North Texas churches that O'Rourke has visited in the past month. That outreach has been bolstered by a campaign office strategically placed in southern Dallas, so O'Rourke can tap into the urban core and the high voting areas in the southern suburbs.

Courting the black vote is of particular urgency for O'Rourke. If he wants to beat Cruz in November, he'll need an increased turnout from urban voters, including those in the Democratic Party stronghold of Dallas County.

"In order to win we have to have a bigger turnout in the midterms than we normally have," said West, D-Dallas and a member of the church. "It's very important that he continue his outreach to the African-American community."

In a normal midterm election the Democratic turnout in Dallas County is around 250,000 voters. West hopes Democrats can pump that number up to 325,000 voters or more.

The standing-room only crowd might have been O'Rourke's largest rally in front of a predominantly black audience.

"They want to touch him, they want to feel him," West said. "They are now very excited about his candidacy."

Beto O'Rourke talks to voters during a rally at the Houston Stampede Event Center in Houston Texas, on Saturday September 8, 2018. Sen. Ted Cruz to talks with voters during a retail stop at Tin Roof BBQ in Humble Texas, on Saturday September 8, 2018. Sen. Ted Cruz campaigned in Humble, Texas, Texas on Saturday, while Beto O'Rourke campaigned a few miles away in Houston, Texas. (Irwin Thompson/Staff Photographer) (Irwin Thompson)

Though his courtship of black voters has improved, supporters say there's still a lot of work in front of O'Rourke.

"This is a good first step," said former state District Judge Elizabeth Frizell, who was featured in one of O'Rourke's campaign television commercials. "I'd like to see him make more visits here. He should go to some of the other prominent churches. He needs to get to know the ministers ... there are still a lot of people in the black community that don't know him."

Cruz hasn't ceded Dallas County to O'Rourke. He's looking for Republican voters all over, showing up in late July in East Dallas at a barbershop run by a Hispanic family that identifies with conservatism and holding a meeting at the African-American Museum in Fair Park.

Cruz has said that Democrats, fueled by their anger about Trump, will walk over glass to vote in November. But he's convinced that if conservatives show up at the polls in a state dominated by Republicans, he'll be re-elected.

Connecting with the base

Several months ago, when O'Rourke was an established star, he was largely unknown to black Texans.

At various town hall meetings and roundtable discussions, O'Rourke was bluntly criticized by minority residents wanting to see more from his campaign. Instead of recoiling, he vowed to do better.

"I'm hearing some really tough things I need to hear," O'Rourke said in February to black, Hispanic and Asian supporters at the Mercado, a cultural center, gallery and cafe. "I'm going to act on them. Like you have said, it's ours to lose, if we fail to make the most of it."

That led to at least two appearances in DeSoto, where black residents dominate the highest Democratic voting precincts in Dallas County. O'Rourke said DeSoto City Council member Candice Quarles took him on a tour, introduced him to Top 5 BBQ restaurant and suggested that he open a campaign office in the southern Dallas County.

He did.

O'Rourke has held a rally and block walk in South Dallas with state Rep. Eric Johnson, a Dallas Democrat. Even more critical, he's hired veteran black campaign operatives in urban areas across the state. His efforts on the ground have been bolstered by television ads that supporters from all backgrounds have been watching.

Along with a beefed-up ground game, O'Rourke appealed to many black voters by voicing support for the NFL players who kneel during the national anthem to protest police shootings of unarmed residents. A video of him answering a question about the protests by some NFL players went viral, with him telling a resident that there is "nothing more American" than peacefully protesting for your rights. The response generated criticism from Cruz and others, but yielded praise from black activists and athletes like NBA star LeBron James.

"He understands that the protest is not about the flag or the military, but against police brutality," said retired Dallas resident Dorothy Fisher, who attended the rally.

Though still not as popular as he is with white Democrats, O'Rourke is better known in Dallas' black neighborhoods than he was earlier this year.

"He's not afraid to address the issues that African-Americans care about," said former DeSoto Mayor Carl Sherman Sr., who is the Democratic nominee for Texas House District 109 in DeSoto. "He's a combination, in my opinion, of former President Barack Obama and Robert Kennedy. When African-Americans see him, they fall in love."

The Good Street Baptist Church is also symbolic of O'Rourke's call for Texans to unite in an effort to reform the criminal justice system, improve education and create good-paying jobs for all citizens.

On April 22, 1956, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave a Youth Day sermon at the church, now 134 years old. Good Street is believed to be the only Dallas church where King preached during his time in the civil rights movement.

From 1950 to 2008 the congregation was led by the late C.A.W. Clark, one of the most prominent ministers and community leaders in Dallas. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson Jr. made annual visits to the church during Clark's tenure.

O'Rourke told the crowd he would help lead a movement to reform the criminal justice system and overcome "racist" voter suppression laws.

"We need to vote in a new government that represents each and every one of us," he said.

The Dallas rally is part of O'Rourke's two-day swing through North Texas. He also has events planned in Denton and Plano.