Texas Tribune by James Barragán Sept. 30, 2022
The one-hour debate took place in Edinburg. It was the only scheduled debate between the two candidates before the November election.
Gov. Greg Abbott and Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke clashed Friday night over immigration, abortion and gun control in the only planned gubernatorial debate before the Nov. 8 elections.
Throughout the debate, Abbott tried to depict O’Rourke as an acolyte of Democratic President Joe Biden who would drive Texas to the left and who constantly “flip-flopped” on issues like police funding, immigration and energy policies. O’Rourke, for his part, said he wanted to “prosecute the case” against Abbott and the governor’s failures on issues like fixing the state’s energy grid, lowering property taxes and preventing school shootings.
The debate at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg kicked off with a discussion on immigration, which consistently ranks as one of the top issues for Texas voters.
Abbott touted the $4 billion the state has allocated toward border security, including funding to deploy thousands of National Guard troops and Department of Public Safety troopers to the southern border to apprehend the large number of migrants crossing into the state. But he noted that the state shouldn’t be paying any money because the federal government should be stepping up to secure the border.
“What we’re doing is making sure that we are keeping our community safe, and this is completely different than the way things would be under Beto because he said months ago, ‘There is no problem on the border.’ He said that he would reduce immigration enforcement,” Abbott said.
Abbott blamed Biden for the large number of migrants and deadly drugs, like fentanyl, crossing into the country through the Texas-Mexico border.
O’Rourke immediately went on the attack, saying Abbott was trying to deflect the blame on immigration as he would on other issues. He noted that Abbott’s expensive border mission has not had the impact of deterring border crossings.
More:
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/30/texas-governor-debate-greg-abbott-beto-orourke/
