Beto O’Rourke has brought the fight against Texas Republicans and President Donald Trump to his hometown of El Paso to call on residents to get politically involved.
Over 900 people gathered at the Elmont Event Center’s Grand Ballroom in El Paso on Wednesday, Aug. 20, to hear O’Rourke, a former U.S. Rep. and presidential candidate, and current U.S. Reps. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso, Jasmine Crockett, D-Dallas, and Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio.
Their unified call to El Paso voters: Get politically involved early in the 2026 midterm election, which is about 14 months away.
“They want us to think that what’s happening right now is inevitable and impossible to stop,” O’Rourke said upon taking the stage in front of a large crowd. “That is how these people win power, hold power, grow that power and leave people completely out of power.”
He drew a parallel between the moment in history and the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany in 1933, highlighting the ascent of authoritarianism. He warned this could be the path unless people stand up and fight, and that getting politically active was the way forward.
“This room right here is the real center of power in America,” O’Rourke said. “We have got to use it.”
The rally came just hours after Texas Republicans pushed through congressional redistricting in Austin, Texas, during a special session.
Earlier Wednesday evening, the GOP-controlled House of Representatives approved a redistricting plan aimed at helping Republicans win five more seats in the upcoming 2026 midterm election. Abbott asked the Legislature to handcraft the districts at Trump’s request.
The Legislature’s actions hung over the rally in El Paso.
O’Rourke’s Powered by People grassroots organization, which is the largest voter registration network in Texas, organized the rally. He has held a series of rallies across the U.S. to challenge the Trump administration and to grow the Democrats’ voter base.
What is happening next with Texas redistricting?
The Texas Legislature voted to advance the controversial redistricting maps Wednesday, Aug. 20.
The bill was passed by an 88-52 vote, falling on party lines. The vote comes after Texas Democrats returned to the Capitol after over two weeks out of state, following a quorum break in protest of redistricting.
Abbott praised the approval of the bill, but added three new items to the second special session, including penalties on lawmakers who leave the state to disrupt legislation.
”Today I am expanding the agenda for the second special session to include important issues that will benefit Texas,” Abbott said in the news statement. “We need to ensure that rogue lawmakers cannot hijack the important business of Texans during a legislative session by fleeing the state.”
Ahead of the approval of the redistricting, Texas Democrats called on Republicans to vote against the new maps. They condemned the inequalities created by the new congressional districts.
“These maps are theft,” State Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, said in a speech on the floor of the Legislature ahead of the vote. “These maps are deepening the struggle for communities of color that will only worsen because one small man in DC demanded it. This is where division becomes dictatorship, the government against the people.”
The bill now goes to the Texas Senate. But Democrats signaled Wednesday that the fight to stop it could continue.
“Unfortunately, we saw that this map passed today in the Texas House,” Crockett, who is a rising star in the Democratic party, said. “Now, if for some reason the Texas Senate decides they want to break quorum, we can kill another special session.”
Crockett pointed out that if this bill does get signed into law, then Latino votes will be 1/3rd of the vote of their white neighbors, and Black votes would be 1/5th of their white neighbors.
Preparing for 2026 midterm elections
Condemnation of the Trump administration’s policies related to immigration, Medicare, education and rollbacks to the Voting Rights Act were key issues that speakers addressed. The redistricting in Texas, they argued, was part of a larger GOP plan to keep these policies in place.
“Donald Trump knows that his ‘Big Ugly Bill’ is hated by American voters,” Escobar said. “Because he knows that Republicans can’t compete fairly after what they have done to us that they’ve got to rig the next election in order to prevent what we want to do, which is kick them out of office.”
Escobar also brought up the high costs of the new immigration detention facility on Fort Bliss, which will be the largest in the country. She argued that the $1.24 billion allocated to the facility and the $45 billion earmarked for immigration enforcement operations could be redirected to house homeless people and feed school children across the United States.
The impacts of these cuts are personal, speakers pointed out, calling on the audience to share their personal stories.
Castro shared his personal story of being diagnosed with cancer a few years ago and the story of his grandmother, who, after years of working, relied on Social Security and Medicare. He pointed out that often, these cuts are a matter of life and death.
“My grandmother after working all of those years, she was a diabetic and when she could no longer work … the only thing she had to her name after all of those years in giving so much of herself was a $335 a month Social Security check,” Castro said. “And that is still the story for so many of our seniors today.”
Beto O’Rourke: Let’s ‘win our country back’
All the Democratic speakers called on El Paso Democrats to share more with the people around them.
Speakers pointed out that the consolidation of the Trump administration is not “inevitable” and that they want to leave Democrats “feeling hopeless.” The Democrats looked to spark hope in those in attendance.
“If we hang together, we are going to overcome these bastards and we’re going to win our country back,” O’Rourke said to great applause.
There was a steadfastness in the pride of the Borderland community in the face of attempts to limit the political power of voters through redistricting.
“Texas looks red, but realistically, there’s a part of Texas that is El Paso, and it is blue,” Malchi Matsuda, a resident of El Paso, said. “And with everything that is going right now, it is trying to silence those people. But our community is strong. El Paso is strong.”
And for those in attendance, there was a sense of hope moving forward.
“It made me feel more hopeful and made me feel more empowered,” Lisa Logano, a 47-year-old resident of El Paso, said. “There are things I can do to improve the condition.”
Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times and can be reached at:jdabbott@gannett.com;@palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Texas Democrats rally in El Paso, looking to mobilize ahead of 2026 midterms
Reporting by Jeff Abbott, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
