Beto O’Rourke Draws a Large Crowd in Lubbock. What Does It Mean?
Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate President governor or Texas Beto O'Rourke traveled to Lubbock on Thursday as part of his tour of Texas. O'Rourke is touring the state and even going to parts of the state that typically vote red, including West Texas.
O'Rourke held his event inside the Science Spectrum and, according to KAMC, the crowd size was over 1,000 people. At least that's what the campaign told KAMC. That number could be accurate, or the campaign could have been inflating the crowd size a bit. One thing's for sure: it was a large crowd for Beto O'Rourke. A large crowd for any democratic candidate in West Texas.
Some on social media attempted to analyze the picture of the crowd size and tweeted hopes that it meant Lubbock and West Texas was changing. It should be noted that most of those who were engaging in this type of discussion were pro-Beto voters hoping to change the area.
While O'Rourke's crowd size was impressive for Lubbock, it really doesn't mean much. Here's why.
In 2018, Beto O'Rourke traveled to Lubbock a few times in his campaign against Senator Ted Cruz and drew very large crowds compared to what democrats had typically drawn. And I'd bet the crowds he drew in 2018 were larger than what he drew on Thursday. How did that work out for O'Rourke? In 2018, he lost Lubbock County to Cruz in a blowout 64 percent to 35 percent. Ted Cruz received 58,780 votes, while Beto O'Rourke received 32,068 votes.
Yes, this is 2022 and it's a different race, but that's a lot of votes to overcome. One big rally isn't going to do it.