Opinion: Beto O'Rourke has the attitude we need in U.S. Senate

David Currie | Contributed opinion

U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke will make his fourth appearance in San Angelo at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 2, at a “Beers with Beto” event at the Concho Pearl Icehouse, 1605 S. Chadbourne St.

O’Rourke is a congressman from El Paso who is causing quite a stir across Texas, as he has already visited all 254 Texas counties. Some people compare O’Rourke, who is in his 40s, to Robert Kennedy. Come and see him for yourself.

Beto has widely outraised his opponent, Sen. Ted Cruz, despite refusing to accept campaign contributions from political action committees or any organized special interest group, a practice virtually unheard of in modern politics. He raised over $10 million in the past quarter alone. Sen. Cruz, of course, gets nearly all of his campaign funds from special interest groups.

What Beto O’Rourke brings to politics is common sense; strong support of public education; policies that will grow workers’ wages, not just their employers’ profits; realistic immigration policies that foster true family values; and a proven record of working across the aisle to solve problems.

In his travels across Texas, he has consistently listened to the people he wants to represent. Since being elected to Congress six years ago, he has held a town hall meeting every single month to listen to his El Paso constituents.

Jeff Betty, chair of the Tom Green County Republican Party, recently wrote a good article urging Republicans to avoid splintering into factions and, specifically, criticizing the organization Empower Texans for attacking Sen. John Cornyn for not being conservative enough. What Betty didn’t mention is that Empower Texans attacks Drew Darby for the same reason and loves Ted Cruz because he is an extremist.

Betty also failed to point out that Empower Texans has bought and paid for every statewide elected official in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and Land Commissioner George P. Bush are all in the pocket of Empower Texans and their special interest money.

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You want proof? Gov. Abbott and Lt. Gov. Patrick called a special legislative session last summer for two primary purposes pushed by Empower Texans. Those two sessions were called to pass a bathroom bill and a private school vouchers bill. The bathroom bill addressed a “problem” that does not exist, and vouchers for private schools will put money in the pocket of private interests, many from outside Texas; turn our school children into “profit centers”; and destroy public education, which is Empower Texans’ primary goal.

Empower Texans is also behind the attempt of Cruz, Abbott, Patrick and Paxton to deny health coverage to persons with pre-existing conditions (six in my family, including me, are cancer survivors). They also encouraged Abbott to not expand Medicaid in Texas, a decision that contributed to the closure of over 20 rural hospitals in the past five years and will prevent Texas from receiving over $100 billion of federal money over a 10-year period. If you ask me (or your local hospital), that’s simply stupid!

More: Beto O'Rourke pulls within 2 points of Ted Cruz in Texas Senate race, poll finds

So join us Thursday evening and meet Beto O’Rourke, who is what Texas and America really need – an honest, common-sense politician who actually cares about Texans and is not bought and paid for by special interests. It would be nice to have a U.S. senator from Texas who actually works to get things done for the people of Texas, don’t you think?

As Beto says, “Before we are Democrats or Republicans, we are Texans, Americans, human beings.” This is the attitude we need in the U.S. Senate.

David R. Currie is chair of the Tom Green County Democratic Party. He has a Ph.D. in Christian Ethics and is a retired Baptist minister. He is a rancher, a small business owner, and a Sunday school teacher.