BROWNSVILLE -- In the final days of campaigning, Beto O’Rourke, the Democrat who has been barnstorming the state for more than a year in his bid to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, returned to friendly territory to shore up votes: the border.

“This community is leading the country on the issues we understand better than anyone else: bilateral relations with Mexico, trade, immigration, security. These are the things we live day in and day out,” O’Rourke said. “At the time that counts the most we're all standing up to be counted - to share our wisdom, our leadership and our experience with the rest of the country. I'm fiercely proud of Brownsville and the cities of the U.S. border and I've come back to say thank you to everyone who's leading at this critical moment.”

As the campaign winds down to its final days, the gap between Cruz and O’Rourke appears to be shrinking. In a poll by Emerson College released Thursday, Cruz was ahead of O’Rourke 50 percent to 47 percent, with a margin of error of 3.7 percent.

Earlier in the week, a Quinnipiac poll had Cruz up 51 to 46 percent.

The narrowing gap comes as President Donald Trump continues to announce tough-on-immigration policies that appeal to his supporters just days before the election.

On Tuesday, he floated the idea of doing away with birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed by the 14th amendment, by using an executive order - a legally questionable proposition that goes against conservative thought on the use of executive power. On Wednesday, he said up to 15,000 troops could be sent to the border to deal with a caravan of Central American immigrants making their way through Mexico to the United States.

And on Thursday, Trump said in a speech from the White House that he plans to sign an order next week that could lead to the large-scale detention of migrants crossing the southern border and bar anyone caught crossing illegally from claiming asylum.

O’Rourke, who has tried to stay away from negative personal attacks, chided Trump for his recent statements on immigration and said the country “was being tested” when asked about sending troops to the border.

“No wall, no amount of troops is going to defend against that level of desperation and misery,” he said of the Central American immigrants seeking refuge in the country. “This desire to stir paranoia and fear on the part of the American public is a political ploy five days away from the deciding election of our lifetime.”

Friendly crowds

In front of crowds chanting, “Beto! Beto!” and wearing “Viva Beto” hats and “Beto for Texas” shirts, O’Rourke returned to his stump speech of facing “fearmongering” and “paranoia” with positivity and unity.

He made his pitch for expanding health care to cover every man, woman and child, and called on the country to take better care of its teachers and military veterans. Teachers need to be paid living wages and military veterans returning from all-but-forgotten wars in the Middle East need better access to mental health treatment, he said.

He touted the contributions of immigrants to the country and pledged to defend unauthorized immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as children.

The solidly Democratic issues played well with the crowds, which ranged from high school seniors skipping government class to see a real-life candidate to lifelong Democrats getting around on walkers.

Still, O’Rourke and other Democratic candidates who stumped for him urged the crowds to get out the vote even after counties in the Valley are blowing past the early voting tallies for the last midterm election in 2014. Cruz was in South Texas earlier this week courting conservative Latinos.

Beefing up outreach

During the primaries, O’Rourke had a poor showing in the Rio Grande Valley, losing a dozen South Texas counties to Sema Hernandez, a lightly funded Democrat from Houston who hardly campaigned. But he won the two largest counties, Cameron and Hidalgo, and dedicated resources to expanding his name recognition among the heavily Latino population of South Texas, touring the area with congressional candidate Veronica Escobar, Julián and Joaquin Castro and even hosting a concert with norteño band Los Tigres Del Norte.

“We have to make sure we leave it all on the field,” said Ruben Cortez, who is running for the State Board of Education. “This race is going to be razor thin.”

“Have everyone else who hasn’t voted and get them out there,” said Gina Benavides, who is running for re-election to the 13th Criminal Court of Appeals.

Jaye Clinton wore an “I voted for Beto” shirt outside the event in Raymondville with about 300 attendees and said she had urged everyone in her family to vote for him, too. Her grandson was still slacking, she said, but he planned to vote on Friday.

“We believe in him so much,” Clinton said. “He’s offering to work with everyone.”

Gloria Benavides, a retired teacher from Brownsville, had also cast her ballot for O’Rourke. She liked O’Rourke’s stance on helping teachers and expanding access to health care. But above all, she liked his positive message, she said.

“It’s not about Democrats or Republicans, it’s about us, the people,” she said as she waited to greet O’Rourke at the Brownsville event attended by 550 people.

She said the early vote tallies were a positive sign for O’Rourke in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office in more than two decades. After a pause, she said, she even thought he could win.