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Beto O'Rourke gives concession speech after losing Texas governor race
The loss is O'Rourke's 3rd major campaign loss in 4 years.
EL PASO, Texas - Democrat Beto O'Rourke took the stage Tuesday night in El Paso facing a crowd of supporters delivering a concession speech for the third time in four years.
O'Rourke lost the Texas governor's race to incumbent Republican Greg Abbott in a race that was called very early in the night.
"This may be one of the last times I get to talk in front of you all," O'Rourke said at the beginning of his speech.
The candidate thanked supporters, including more than 95,000 volunteers who knocked on more than 5 million doors across the state, for their hard work on this campaign and his previous runs.
"When they ask us at some point down the road, ‘What were you up to when all of these terrible things were going on in Texas, and we still had a chance to do something about it?’ We want them to know that we stood to be counted along with so many other extraordinary, wonderful people in this room with us tonight," O'Rourke said.
He also thanked his wife, Amy, and his mother, Melissa, who he said was diagnosed with an aggressive form cancer months ago.
"She's been in the fight of her life literally," O'Rourke said. "The unconditional love and support and the push that you gave me day in and day out kept me going throughout this."
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O'Rourke also said that he was inspired by his supporters' willingness to fight in the face of what he considers several challenges for Democrats in Texas races.
"At a time when we could be tempted to give in and give up we all decided instead to give it our all," he said. "In a state that has this level of voter suppression and voter intimidation, the hardest in the nation in which to cast a ballot or to get your name on the rolls to be registered to vote in the first place, we made those who have been shut out in this democracy our priority."
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O'Rourke laid out his hopes for the future of Texas.
"We just want a state where people are free enough and healthy enough to be able to purse their potential and rise to fulfill their true promise," he said. "A state, where we are not defined or divided based on our differences, but find the common interests for the common good."
The former congressman faces an uncertain future in politics.
O'Rourke lost a senate race to Ted Cruz in 2018 and fell short in the primaries during a 2020 Democratic presidential bid.
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O'Rourke loosely addressed what the future may hold.
"I don't know what my role or yours will be going forward, but I'm in this fight for life," O'Rourke said.