On the Road with Beto O'Rourke
Here's what I learned about Beto O’Rourke’s Senate campaign after a nine-town, 653-mile sprint through the rural and highly conservative Texas panhandle: It is remarkable in both style and substance, reaching a diverse group of people in far corners of the state.
There's a widely held belief that the state of Texas is and always will be Red. A Democrat hasn’t won a Senate seat in Texas in three decades. Trump won the state by 10 percentage points. Challenging current junior senator Ted Cruz, a nationally known politician with deep pockets, seems like a fool’s errand.
But O’Rourke, a 45-year-old congressman from El Paso who once played bass in a punk band, is taking on that challenge. And he might actually succeed. After announcing his bid in March 2017, O’Rourke has barnstormed the state, visiting all 254 counties-often multiple times-and in spots that haven't seen a statewide politician since the '60s.
For two breathless days in May, I followed O’Rourke’s underdog campaign, photographing and watching as he won over voters with his boundless energy, charisma, and authenticity. Over that weekend, O’Rourke hosted town halls and knocked on doors in towns like Killeen, Eastland, Borger, Dumas, Waco, Paducah, Abilene, and Amarillo. He listened to every person that showed up, including voters from other parties and those who disagree with his politics.
Polls have him within striking distance of Cruz. There's the very real possibility that this long-shot candidate might inch Texas toward the blue category.
Friday Night. Austin.
Before heading to Killeen and launching into his weekend on the road in the Panhandle, Beto speaks to a group gathered before sunset in Austin. Austin is sometimes referred to as a "blueberry in tomato soup": it's a Democratic stronghold in a sea of red.
Saturday Morning. Killeen.
Runners gather at 5:45 a.m. as the sun starts to rise in Killeen for the start of one of O'Rourke's "running town halls," in which he jogs with potential voters. "These runs and this campaign are about meeting with people where they are," he told me. "While some might come to a town hall meeting, others would prefer to be outside going for a run." Day broke by the time the group members finish their three-mile run and are met by more supporters and voter registration volunteers.
The running town halls have taken O'Rourke by the Colorado River in Austin, to the Alamo in San Antonio, along the gulf in Corpus Christi, and through Dallas, Houston, Lubbock, McAllen, Fort Worth, and other communities across the state. "Each time people will jog alongside me and we'll just have a conversation about what's on their minds, their ideas, their concerns, what I should know about the town," he said.
O'Rourke pauses midway through the "running town hall" in Killeen to take questions. Killeen is home to Fort Hood, one of the largest military bases in the world.
Killeen Councilwoman Shirley Fleming speaks with O'Rourke after his running town hall. Other attendees include the makers of an upcoming film Red: A Descent Into Darkness about human trafficking.
A Killeen man waits to meet O'Rourke on Saturday morning. Strong opinions about marijuana reform came from places you wouldn't expect in the Panhandle-and centered on hemp-based building materials and CBD oil for livestock healthcare. O'Rourke has introduced bipartisan legislation to end the federal prohibition on marijuana, a position he's held since serving on the El Paso City Council and authoring the book Dealing Death and Drugs: An Argument For Ending the Prohibition of Marijuana.
Saturday Mid-Morning. Temple.
O'Rourke goes door to door in Temple to meet residents and ask them what's on their minds. (Prior to knocking on doors, he met with a crowd of local volunteers at Dewey Park before they took part in field organizing training.)
His sister Charlotte, who's traveling with him, picks up a pink hat with the phrase "Smile More" from a yard sale. Moments later, wearing the hat, O'Rourke knocks on the door of Killeen resident Patsy Cummings. When she asks if he has another hat like the one he's wearing, Beto hands it to her, saying, "Go ahead and take this one!"
Saturday Afternoon. Waco.
O'Rourke shakes hands with a woman in Waco who works in the school system. The woman had sought out O'Rourke to discuss solutions to the rampant bullying she sees.
Saturday Night. Abilene.
O'Rourke speaks at a town hall of about 500 people at the Abilene Woman's Club on a hot Saturday night. This is his third town hall in Abilene, a former frontier town, where a woman told me that she lived for years in fear of being fired if her boss discovered she was a Democrat. Many attendees talked about the surprise and excitement around the turnout-and the fact that Beto even showed up in Abilene.
Sunday Morning. Paducah.
O'Rourke hands out roses on Mother's Day to the women at an outdoor town hall in Paducah, a museum of a town with a declining population of 1,100 that calls itself the "Crossroads of America" because it's where Interstates 70 and 83 meet. One of the event's organizers-a woman who grew up in Paducah, before moving away-told me that you could probably count the number of Paducah's Democrats on a few hands.
O'Rourke takes questions on the steps of the 1930s-era Cottle County Courthouse in Paducah. He is greeted by a small group wearing Trump gear and gun rights T-shirts, who tell him that "anyone who is gonna come this far to our town deserves to have us come out and give you a listen." A volunteer who knew one of the MAGA guys said he pulled her aside afterwards, saying of O'Rourke: "He's good."
Sunday Afternoon. Wellington.
O'Rourke talks with Sandy Martin on her farm in Wellington in Collingsworth County. Martin is a Republican business owner who wants a seat at the table for farmers and ranchers when decisions are being made that would impact their lives and work. She owns Running Arrow Longhorn Farm and sells jerky, jams, and honey out of a trailer. Martin said there hadn't been any measurable rain in the area since last fall.
Sunday Late Afternoon. Dumas.
A woman leaves Main St. Sweets and Eats with a lawn sign after O'Rourke's town hall in the small town of Dumas. One of the employees giving out cookies at the town hall said: "We just feel so special that we'd get to have an event like this. Since when does anyone important bother coming to Dumas? It's exciting! Everyone has been buzzing this week, waiting for him to arrive."
A man from Dumas, Conrad Deanda, speaks with O'Rourke at the Main St. Sweets and Eats. Conrad is from the Rio Grande Valley and moved to Dumas in the 1970s after serving in Vietnam. "Since I've been a Democrat, I have to do my own thinking," he said. "This is my way of doing research for what's coming up later."
A line forms to take pictures and meet O'Rourke after the Dumas town hall at Main St. Sweets and Eats. This visit to Moore County marked Beto's 251st county in his pledge to visit all 254 in Texas.
Sunday Night. Amarillo.
In this midsize prairie city, where about a quarter of U.S. beef is processed, an ecstatic and diverse group of O'Rourke supporters show up in force for his third town hall here. For all the progressive energy in the room, Amarillo is home to only three elected Democrats in local government.
O'Rourke takes pictures and a few last questions after his Amarillo town hall on Sunday night. This was his last stop on this two-day, 800-mile campaign trip. After the intimate town halls out on the plains, Amarillo is a full-parking-lot, standing-room-only night with live music and a ton of energy. The crowd includes members of the LGBTQ and immigrant communities, people wearing #BlackLivesMatter buttons and Indivisible hats, as well as others wearing NRA tees.
"The fact that Beto is even here is courageous and a spearheading," Craig Stewart, who attended the Amarillo event, told me. "It's great to have democratic representation."
He added: "I'm surprised at the number of people that are here tonight. I thought there'd be maybe 40 people."
Charlie Gross is a Brooklyn-based photographer.
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