More than 200 people crowded into Tex-Mex Night Club and spilled into the adjoining Taco Gym restaurant to hear U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke deliver his stump speech.
More than 200 people crowded into Tex-Mex Night Club and spilled into the adjoining Taco Gym restaurant to hear U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke deliver his stump speech.
The El Paso congressman, who drove in from an earlier “Musica con Beto” event in McAllen, has reached his goal of speaking in all 254 Texas counties in his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
Harlingen resident Allison Merritt, 34, and Alejandra Vasquez, 24 of Brownsville attended the event together.
“I just want to be more involved because of everything going on politically,” Vasquez said. “I felt like I need to take more action.
Merritt agreed. She likes O’Rourke’s platforms of universal health care, immigration reform, access to medical marijuana and women’s issues.
“Plus, I want to do whatever I can to support voter turnout,” she said, adding that Democrats struggle to get voters to the polls during midterms. “All of his political views and policies are opposite of Ted Cruz, and I want Ted Cruz voted out because I’m against everything he stands for.”
Brownsville resident Mauricio Piña, 35, said he has supported O’Rourke since the beginning of the candidate’s campaign. Piña owns a digital marketing business and helped make a video for the O’Rourke campaign.
“I love that he’s putting people together,” Piña said. ”I love how he’s running his campaign, staying positive.”
During a 1-on-1 interview with The Brownsville Herald before taking the stage, O’Rourke had to speak over the cheers bleeding into Taco Gym from the other side of a retractable door as San Juan native and comedian Cristela Alonzo fired up the crowd.
A more complete version of this story is available on www.myBrownsvilleHerald.com
