September 21, 2025

No one knows Texas better than former congressman Beto O’Rourke. With Texas in the news, I knew we had to chat. I sat down with Rep. O’Rourke to discuss redistricting in the state, how Democrats can regain control of Congress, and what it takes to turn Texas blue. I hope you enjoy our conversation. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Marc Elias: Welcome back to Defending Democracy.

Beto O'Rourke: Marc, it's good to be with you. Thank you for having me.

Marc Elias: Alright, so it seems like Texas is once again at the center of the political universe. There is no one who I wanted to speak to more about this than you, because you know this state literally from one corner to another to another to another. You're going to tell me there are more corners than that.

But let's start with the big picture. I was thinking about this in advance of you coming on: how long have we been told that Texas is on the verge of becoming a swing, purple state? It keeps teasing us that it's there and then it sort of takes a step back. Give us a sense of how you view the politics of the state at a macro level, and then we're going to drill in.

Beto O'Rourke: When a lot of people outside of Texas look at Texas, they see an example of extremism — the most obscene abortion law in America, for example, that is directly connected to this god-awful maternal mortality crisis we have. The school shootings like those at Santa Fe High School or Uvalde and the fact that nothing has changed to make those shootings any less likely. In fact, Texas leads the country in school shootings right now. A $7.25 an hour minimum wage or the least insured population in America, meaning that we lead the country in childhood diabetes deaths.

None of those things that I just described are popular. It's not what the majority of people in Texas want. And yet when you have decimated democracy in this state...