Beto O'Rouke Offers Progressive Vision for Texas and Willie Nelson Sings "Vote Em Out"

An enthusiastic crowd estimated at 55,000 came to see Beto O'Rouke and Willie Nelson in Austin, TX over the weekend and it was quite a show. Beto warmed up the crowd for Willie with an impassioned speech offering a new vision for Texas including marijuana legalization, LGBTQ rights and universal health care.

US News: "Taking an open-air stage in Texas' progressive-minded capital city, O'Rourke said he wanted to appeal to voters from both parties and independents but called for universal health care and gay rights, warned of the ills of climate change and switched to his fluent Spanish to denounce President Donald Trump's calls to wall off the U.S.-Mexico border. He also decried the federal government's war on drugs, saying it disproportionately targets minorities and the poor."

Willie introduced a new song, "Vote em Out," and congressman O'Rouke joined Nelson later in the evening to sing “On the Road Again”.

Willie singing his new song, "Vote em Out"

Beto and incumbent Senator Ted Cruz are essentially tied in recent polls with just over a month until the election. Six months ago, few believed O'Rourke had much of a chance to unseat Cruz, but his progressive platform has energized voters far more than expected.

ABC News: "The embrace of those progressive policies is a gamble on a state that has changed drastically in the last two decades -- becoming younger and more diverse -- but one that Democrats have not scored a statewide victory in since 1994. If it fails it will be held up as an example of the limitations and shortcomings of Democratic appeal in states like Texas, but even a race that winds up within a few points will indicate just how far Democrats can go with the right candidate delivering a genuine message."

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