Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) said this week that he is considering running for governor of Texas in 2022.
“You know what, it’s something I’m going to think about,” he commented during an interview this week on Texas radio station KLAQ, Fox 26 reported Friday.
O’Rourke said Texas had “suffered perhaps more than any other” during the pandemic and also accused Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) of “complete indifference” to helping local leaders during that time.
“I want to make sure that we have someone in the highest office in our state to make sure that all of us are okay,” the 48-year-old said.
“Whether I’m a candidate for governor or I support someone who’s a candidate for governor, I want to make sure that we have excellence in leadership and that excellence goes to every single part of the state, including ours,” he continued.
Despite the criticism, Abbott announced last week that Texas had administered over 100,000 vaccines in one day “for the first time.”
“Vaccine volumes are expected to continue to increase. Our providers are not only working faster, they are also covering more regions in the state,” he wrote on Twitter:
As Breitbart News reported:
The news follows last week’s announcement from the governor and Health Department, which celebrated a major milestone: the Lone Star State became the first state to vaccinate one million people. The state hit the marker “exactly one month to the day after the first doses arrived at vaccine providers in the state on December 14,” Abbott’s office said in a press release containing his statement on the achievement.
The announcement added that Texas chose to prioritize residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities, frontline healthcare workers, seniors, and those with chronic medical conditions.
In response to the idea of O’Rourke joining the race, Abbott’s political strategist, Dave Carney, said, “I certainly would love to run against him,” he noted, adding, “The guy couldn’t get elected dog catcher.”