With the Texas gubernatorial election approaching on Nov. 8, students gathered on Texas A&M’s campus for democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke’s rally to hear him speak about his goals and future policies for Texas before the polls open. 

With an introduction from his campaign’s student fellows, O’Rourke spoke at Rudder Theatre on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 10:30 a.m. O’Rourke primarily touched on his goals for his potential time in office as governor and his aspirations for the future of Texas, including abortion access, gun control, payment for educators, the Texas power grid, Medicaid expansion, veteran care and treatment and marijuana legalization.

“Future generations are going to be looking back on those of us here alive today, the people of 2022, to see how we acquitted ourselves at this moment,” O’Rourke said during his introduction. “Everything that we care about is on the line and will be decided in a matter of about 40 days on the eighth of November.”

Business freshman Gabriel Rodman said he found out about the rally through Beto for Texas representatives at the Memorial Student Center, who advised him to change his voting zip code to College Station for the upcoming election.

“They said that he was coming to campus, and I already knew I was going to vote for him,” Rodman said. “I came to the rally to see more of what he is about.”

O’Rourke’s policies on small businesses and gun control are what initially drew him to O’Rourke as a gubernatorial candidate, Rodman said. Rodman said he attended the on-campus rally to learn more about the democratic nominee as a person separate from his candidacy.

“I want to see more of his personality and learn about the humanity side of him rather than the politician side of him,” Rodman said. 

Business graduate student Sonnie Acosta, a student fellow for Beto’s campaign, said as someone from El Paso, she has seen Beto’s message spread since 2018.

“It’s been awesome to see that first hand,” Acosta said. “Seeing him advocate for women getting autonomy over their own body to protecting our kids in school, all of that has such important moral value to me. That’s why I believe Beto is the best for Texas and why I am going to continue to support him.”

Acosta said it is inspiring to see so many students take the time to attend the rally for the democratic nominee.

“It’s us young people who are really going to make a difference and make a change — especially when it comes to electing Beto as a state governor,” Acosta said. 

Psychology junior Ariana Lozano said she attended the rally because she aligns with many of the same values as Beto, particularly reducing gun violence and raising wages for Texas educators. 

“Abbott hasn’t done anything to protect the citizens of Texas,” Lozano said. “I see a lot more advocacy and care in Beto.”

Neuroscience senior Anahid Akbaryan said she has been watching Beto since his initial Texas governor candidacy in 2018.

“I’ve been with him since he ran for senator against Ted Cruz when I was in high school, so he’s always been on my watchlist,” Akbaryan said. “Now that he’s running for governor I have been campaigning encouraged all my friends to come to this rally.”

Akbaryan said unlike Abbott, Beto is with the people.

“Abbott relies on hearsay and word of mouth of small town citizens and he never actually goes into the public and gets to know his constituents,” Akbaryan said. 

The 750 person capacity of Rudder Theatre was reached by students before the rally’s 10:30 a.m. start time. Event organizers announced shortly before O’Rourke came on stage that 500 students were still waiting outside Rudder Theater for admittance to the event even after capacity was reached. 

English senior Rowan Garcia and biomedical sciences freshman Emily Klinkerman were waiting in line, even after the conclusion of O’Rourke’s speech, to get into Rudder Theatre. 

To accommodate for the amount of students who showed up for O’Rourke’s rally, Garcia and Klinkerman said the university should have given him a larger venue.

“It shows a political bias,” Klinkerman said. “If they gave him a bigger venue like Reed Arena, it would have been better. I don’t think they expected so many people to show up.”

Garcia said particularly with Generation Z, there is a greater opportunity for O’Rourke coming to speak at universities like A&M and other institutions in Texas.

“Beto is the change and the compromise that we need, especially with long-term republican voters who may be hesitant to vote for a democrat,” Garcia said. “A lot of us are very politically conscious and we care. Growing up with the internet, we are more informed than previous generations. Him coming to speak at colleges shows that he knows who his audience is. Young people are more open-minded.”