The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee rolled out their secret weapon to flip the Texas statehouse blue in the upcoming election with losing Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke. Until his failed presidential run, O'Rourke was most known for losing the Texas Senate race to Sen. Ted Cruz (R).
The DLCC is a Democrat group that works to win majorities in statehouses across the country.
"I'm reaching out to encourage you to get behind our efforts to flip Texas," O'Rourke states in the video. "We're only nine seats down from taking control of the state legislature for the first time in 2001."
O'Rourke said if Texas is able to get a Democratic-majority in the statehouse, then the state can work on passing gun control and addressing climate change.
"And those nine seats we need to pick up? I actually won those districts when I ran for Senate in 2018. So this is totally possible. We just have to decide it's important to us, get after it, and support those candidates who are bravely stepping up to run these races. So let's flip Texas in 2020," O'Rourke concludes.
Cruz won the race with 50.9 percent of the vote, O'Rourke received 48.3 percent, according to the New York Times.
New Year’s resolution: Flip the Texas House blue with @BetoORourke #txlege pic.twitter.com/8Jj2GlnU5C
— Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (@DLCC) January 2, 2020
While O'Rourke entered the crowded Democratic primary with high hopes and another round of darling media pieces, his candidacy began to tank. After a campaign reboot and a mass shooting in his hometown of El Paso, O'Rourke infamously ran on having mandatory confiscation of AR-15s and AK-47s, along with pushing for removing tax-exempt status for religious institutions who do not approve of same sex marriage.