Dear John,
I’m writing to you after a few really big weeks on the road in Texas.
Whether it was our enthusiastic town hall meeting in Temple or celebrating Fiesta in San Antonio, I had the chance to meet and listen to so many of the people that I want to serve as governor.
You can bet we talked about how Texas can do so much better on the big things — like creating better jobs, improving our public schools and moving forward on common sense ideas like expanding Medicaid — once we get past the cruelty, incompetence and corruption of Greg Abbott.
But it was on the border, in cities like Del Rio, Laredo, Mercedes, Alamo and McAllen that I got an urgent appreciation for the cost of Greg Abbott to the people of Texas and why it’s so important that we defeat him in November.
In Del Rio, I listened to members of the National Guard who told me what it means to be used as props in Abbott’s political theater. Forced to spend a year on a deployment to the border where they have no power to arrest or detain migrants, they are struggling with morale and mental health challenges and four of them have taken their lives since this activation was ordered by Abbott.
In Laredo, I heard the extreme frustration with yet another Abbott border stunt. Trying to score political points against the Biden administration, Abbott ordered a partial blockade of commercial truck traffic coming into the U.S. It is causing massive supply chain problems, driving up inflation in Texas and throughout the country, and killing businesses in Laredo and along the border.
And in the cities of the Rio Grande Valley, residents told me what it’s like when your community is seen as a threat by your own governor, what the talk of walls and invasions does to a town’s ability to recruit and retain talent. And how a focus on political stunts fails to address fundamental challenges in the Valley — like much needed infrastructure investment, increased teacher pay and greater access to mental healthcare.
Abbott is REALLY hurting people all over the state — including along the border, a part of Texas that Abbott thinks he can actually win in November.
I’ll continue to share that in person at these town halls across Texas, I’ll make sure it’s on the front page of every Texas newspaper and that we reach national audiences with this clear contrast, just like we did Tuesday night on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show.
But that’s not going to be enough.
I need your help to reach every single voter in these communities to make sure they understand just how bad Greg Abbott is for them and their families and how much better I can serve them as governor.
I will turn your donations into digital ads that are targeted at the Texans hurt most by Greg Abbott. I’ll use them to support our more than 60,000 volunteers to make sure they are knocking on the doors of the voters who can provide our margin of victory.
I’ll make sure every voter in Texas understands the cost and consequence of Greg Abbott and the opportunity to elect a governor who will help our communities instead of hurting them.
Your donation is our best shot at winning this election.
Thank you for giving,
Beto
