Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke on Monday launched his campaign for governor by casting himself as a leader who is focused on the critical needs of the state instead of the “extremist” agenda he says is being advanced by Gov. Greg Abbott.

“I want to make sure that we’re bringing everyone together to focus on the really big things that are important to this state. I don’t see that happening right now in Texas under Greg Abbott,” O’Rourke told The Dallas Morning News before launching his campaign in a video to supporters. “I know that, if we come together in this moment of division, if we can get past the divide that Abbott and others have created and focus on these big things, then we can ensure that Texas achieves this state’s true potential.”

Abbott was prepared for O’Rourke’s announcement. On Sunday he released an ad that highlights comments O’Rourke has made about “taking down” walls along the nation’s border with Mexico.

On Monday morning at an event in Wilson County where Abbott welcomed Democratic state Rep. Ryan Guillen to the Republican Party, the governor specifically took issue with O’Rourke’s stances on guns, the border and fossil fuels and tied him to Biden and liberal New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“If you look at issue after issue after issue that Beto campaigned on for the presidency of the United States, they weren’t just at odds with Texans, they were hostile to Texans,” Abbott said. “But worst of all, very profoundly during his campaign for the presidency he showed that he really was not so much a Democrat as he was a socialist. He is a part of the Ocasio-Cortez wing of the Democrat Party.

“I welcome the challenge,” Abbott said.

But O’Rourke, 49, says Abbott is a divisive figure who isn’t working on behalf of Texas families.

He said that, if elected governor, he would develop policies that create “world-class public schools” while generating the “best jobs in Texas.” He said he would help provide residents access to quality and affordable health care by expanding Medicaid. And he would stress that Texans should face their challenges together, not divided by petty politics.

The El Paso Democrat accused Abbott, who is seeking his third term as governor, of blocking progress. O’Rourke insisted that conservative legislation approved by the Legislature and signed by Abbott was unacceptable, including a law being challenged in front of the U.S. Supreme Court that would ban abortions at six weeks of pregnancy. As expected, he criticized Abbott for his stewardship during last year’s winter storm that exposed a faulty power grid and plunged millions of Texans into cold and darkness. Abbott has said new laws and guidelines have helped fortify the grid.

“We’ve got a governor right now who is dividing us, trying to distract us with dangerous extremist policies like this abortion ban that sets a bounty on the heads of the women of Texas,” O’Rourke said. “What we really want our governor focused on is making sure that the electricity grid works, so it doesn’t fail again like it did last February, when millions lost power. And by some reports, more than 700 Texans lost their lives.

“I really want to make sure that we’re doing better in Texas,” O’Rourke continued.

Too liberal for Texas?

O’Rourke, making his second statewide run for office and third campaign since 2018, faces an uphill battle.

A Texas Democrat hasn’t won a statewide race since 1994. In 2020, when Democrats boasted that the Lone Star State was primed to turn blue, Republicans held control of the Legislature and carried Donald Trump to victory over Democrat Joe Biden in the Texas presidential contest.

Democrats and O’Rourke are facing tough 2022 midterm elections as Biden’s approval rating is sagging. Historically, the party in the White House has suffered big losses in the midterms.

O’Rourke has his own challenges to overcome.

While many Texans will fondly remember the close 2018 election loss to Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, his ill-fated presidential campaign was highlighted by controversial policy proposals on gun control. His most memorable line came during a Democratic presidential candidate debate a few weeks after a gunman killed 23 people at a Walmart in El Paso, his own town.

“Hell yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47,” O’Rourke forcefully declared.

By the time that debate ended, his campaign was selling T-shirts featuring the promise, and Second Amendment rights advocates were targeting O’Rourke for defeat in his next race, which is now at hand.

In recent weeks, Abbott has been running web spots that cast O’Rourke as too liberal for Texas. Getting independent voters to his side won’t be as easy as it was in his race against Cruz, analysts say. Abbott is also attacking O’Rourke as soft on border security, as evidenced in his new ad.

During the interview with The News, O’Rourke didn’t back down from his stand on assault weapons.

“I’m going to make sure that we’re always reflecting the values of this state. And one of those is we don’t think that our neighbors, our friends or family members should risk being shot up with a weapon that was designed for use on a battlefield,” O’Rourke said. “Look, we are a proud, responsible gun-owning state. Most of us have owned and used firearms.”

O’Rourke then unleashed blistering criticism on Abbott for signing into law a bill that allows Texans to carry guns without a permit. He said Abbott signed the law “despite the fact that, over the last five years, 35,000 licensed to carry a firearm permits were denied or withdrawn by law enforcement, who felt that that person posed too much of a danger to themselves or others.”

“Law enforcement leaders and police chiefs across the state have begged Abbott not to do this, but that’s what he’s focused on,” O’Rourke said. “I’ve been hunting with family and friends like most Texans have, so I understand responsible gun ownership, but what Greg Abbott is doing right now is about as irresponsible as it gets. It’s an extremist, radical proposal that makes us less safe.”

O’Rourke charged that violent crimes have risen under Abbott’s watch and added that Texas has been the scene of numerous mass shootings.

“We have four of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history here in Texas,” O’Rourke said. “We lost 3,500 of our fellow Texans last year to gun violence. And this is all happening at a time that Abbott has already made us less safe.”

“In the time that he’s been governor, the clearance rate for violent crimes like murder and rape has gone down from 70% to just above 50%,” O’Rourke continued. “As governor, I want to make sure that we support law enforcement to prioritize stopping and solving those kinds of violent crimes and making sure that we do not pursue extremist policies that make us less safe, like permitless carry.”

Scripting a third major campaign in five years

When he challenged Cruz, O’Rourke was largely unknown to Texans, many of whom were captivated by his visit to all 254 counties. He visited the reddest rural areas. In the process, he raised over $80 million and became a national figure, headlining rallies that attracted tens of thousands.

He will need to raise significant campaign cash because, in the summer, Abbott had more than $55 million in his account. That total has likely grown, though he’ll have to spend some resources for his March primary race against former state Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas and former Texas GOP Chairman Allen West of Garland.

O’Rourke’s campaign structure has been unorthodox in the past. He eschews having a hoard of campaign consultants in favor of an army of volunteers. His remarks and answers to questions were often impromptu and sometimes came at a political price. When he supported the right of athletes to protest during the playing of the national anthem, he received praise from NBA star LeBron James, but criticism from veterans.

Democrats have called on O’Rourke to add more structure to his campaign for governor.

Whatever he does, he says it will involve a strong collaboration with Texans.

After his presidential run, O’Rourke started a PAC called Powered by People, which sought to register and mobilize voters. He’s also taught courses at Texas State University and the University of Texas.

“The only chance we have to win is with the people of Texas, and the only way the people of Texas are going to decide the outcome of this election in our favor and for the best possible future of this state is if we make the effort and show the respect of being there in every community and ensuring no one is written off, no one is taken for granted, no one is left behind and no one is forgotten,” O’Rourke said. “Too many people in Texas already feel that way.”

O’Rourke again pressed the contrast against Abbott, something fellow Democrats are urging him to do throughout the campaign. In his race against Cruz, O’Rourke often refrained from criticizing his rival.

“Greg Abbott has not been listening to them and doesn’t trust them, and he’s really been focused on the interests of his campaign contributors and his prospects in the next election,” O’Rourke said. “So you cannot be too rural. You cannot be too big city. You cannot be too blue. You cannot be too red for me to show up.”

O’Rourke said his 2022 campaign would continue his goal of engaging with Texans across all spectrums of the state, though he said rallies and events would be held safely as the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“If I have any hope of serving Texans and bringing the people of this state together to do the big work in front of us on jobs, schools on healthcare, then we’ve got to be listening to and working with and trusting one another,” O’Rourke said. “All of that has been missing under Greg Abbott, so we’ve got to walk the talk. And we’ve got to show up everywhere.”

Strategies for victory

While acknowledging that winning statewide campaigns are tough, O’Rourke says he sees a path to victory. It involves not only rallying his party’s base and winning persuadable voters but also energizing residents who didn’t participate in previous elections.

“We can win,” O’Rourke said. “We can win if we make the focus of this campaign the people of Texas and if the power of this campaign is the people of Texas and the ideas for this campaign come from the people of Texas. We can win if we reject the divisions, including a party and in any other way that the governor has tried to pit us against each other and choose to come together.”

He said that 7 million eligible voters didn’t participate in the 2020 elections.

“We have got to go out and listen to them, reach out to them and make sure that they have the opportunity to decide the outcome of this election,” he said. “There are more than enough Texans who can make this victory possible. My job is to reach out to each and every single one of them to share my vision for this state to ensure that they understand how badly Greg Abbott has failed us and then to ensure that they know that the choice is theirs at the ballot box a year from now.”

Polls show O’Rourke has work to do. A September survey by The News and the University of Texas at Tyler found that Abbott led a head-to-head matchup with O’Rourke by five percentage points, down from the 12-point advantage he enjoyed earlier in the year. Abbott led with independent voters by a 35% to 34% margin.

In O’Rourke’s favor, a whopping 54% of Texans surveyed think the state is on the wrong track. Just 45% approve of the governor’s job performance.

O’Rourke said he believed in the positive spirit of Texans, which he says was evident during the winter storm that left millions without power and water.

“When I was thinking about the power grid failure, obviously an example of Abbott’s failure as governor …, the silver lining in all of that was all these people across the state who came together and helped each other out,” O’Rourke said. “I’m confident no one ever asked about party affiliation or religion or immigration status. They just did it out of a sense of responsibility and out of a sense of duty. And I really do think that’s what characterizes the people of Texas.”

He said he’ll try to tap into that spirit with his campaign for governor.

“When you asked about chances, that gives me some confidence as well,” O’Rourke said.

Austin correspondent Allie Morris contributed to this report.