New tonight: Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, is planning to go on a massive 34-day tour of Texas during the August congressional recess, ramping up his already hectic pace of campaigning with three months until Election Day.
From July 29 to Sept. 1, the El Paso congressman will hold close to 100 public events in just over 50 cities across the state, according to his campaign. The trip, which he’ll make entirely by car, will take him to every major region of the state, from the Panhandle to the Rio Grande Valley and East Texas to El Paso. He's already visited all 254 counties since launching his bid to unseat Republican incumbent Ted Cruz over a year ago.
The trip coincides with a congressional recess that has been mostly canceled for senators. Cruz was among the Senate Republicans who had asked Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to nix the recess, hoping to use the extra time in Washington to make progress on nominations and spending bills.
O’Rourke used the August recess last year to crisscross the state in his truck, though the upcoming swing appears to cover even more ground. Most of his events will be town halls, while others will be roundtables with different groups, block walks with supporters and his Beers with Beto meet-ups.
O’Rourke’s trip will feature multiple stops at a time in the major cities — Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, for example — but he also intends to continue hitting small towns that usually don’t get much attention from statewide candidates, especially so deep into the general election. Among them are Iraan in West Texas, Edna near the Gulf Coast and Comanche in Central Texas.
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