Beto O'Rourke blames Gov. Greg Abbott for nixing live audience in tonight's debate

[LetMyPeopleVote]

Greg is scared of a live audience

Link to tweet

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Beto-O-Rourke-blames-Gov-Greg-Abbott-for-nixing-17478110.php

Tonight's debate between Gov. Greg Abbott and Democrat Beto O'Rourke won't feature a live studio audience — and O'Rourke is blaming the governor for that arrangement.

"Greg Abbott let more people into the room to watch him ban abortion in cases of rape and incest than he's letting into the room to watch tonight's debate," O'Rourke tweeted Friday morning.

He was referencing Abbott's signing ceremony last year for Senate Bill 8 — the so-called "Heartbeat Bill" — that banned nearly all abortions in Texas months before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. He was surrounded by dozens of Texas lawmakers who had championed the legislation.

Abbott's campaign said O'Rourke's tweet was inaccurate, and both candidates had agreed to rules put out by Nexstar Media Group, the television station hosting the 7 p.m. debate at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg.

"The terms of debate were agreed to by both campaigns months ago, and now, at the last minute, Beto doesn't like them," said Mark Miner, the communications director for the Abbott campaign. "He's a fraud surrounded by incompetence. Tonight Beto will have to explain his support for defunding the police, open borders and extreme environmental energy policies that will kill hundreds of thousands of energy jobs in Texas."

But O'Rourke's team said Nexstar did not make the decision. Chris Evans, the communications director for the O'Rourke campaign, said the Democrat had repeatedly proposed hosting the debate with an audience of invited guests, students and members of the public — but the Abbott campaign rejected those ideas each time.