{"id":426933,"date":"2026-09-05T07:12:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T07:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/426933\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T07:12:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T07:12:27","slug":"at-san-antonio-rally-beto-orourke-warns-gop-may-use-intimidation-tactics-to-steal-midterms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/426933\/","title":{"rendered":"At San Antonio rally, Beto O’Rourke warns GOP may use intimidation tactics to steal midterms"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Democrat Beto O\u2019Rourke speaks Thursday during a rally in San Antonio. Credit: Michael Karlis<\/p>\n

Beto O\u2019Rourke, founder of well-funded voter-registration group Powered by People, warned during a Thursday event in San Antonio that President Trump may use U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to intimidate voters during November\u2019s midterms.<\/p>\n

The alarm from O\u2019Rourke \u2014\u00a0a former Democratic presidential, gubernatorial and U.S. Senate candidate \u2014\u00a0follows the state of Texas moving 1.2 million registered voters<\/a> to its \u201csuspense\u201d list, meaning they need to update their registrations by Oct. 5 if they want to participate in the upcoming election.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, the GOP-led Tarrant County Commissioners Court this week voted to close 92 polling locations <\/a>in a county of 1.3 million people. Some of the closed stations are in majority-minority neighborhoods. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to be sending Border Patrol and ICE agents \u2026 to polling sites,\u201d O\u2019Rourke said at his voter-registration event in San Antonio. \u201cAnd if you look Mexican, if your skin is a shade browner than mine, they\u2019re going to stop you, ask you for your papers, send you back home and scare the rest of your family from even showing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Rourke also said it\u2019s possible that Trump and the Republican Party, in an attempt to \u201csteal\u201d the midterms, may try to nationalize the elections by ordering the National Guard to seize ballot boxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be in the streets, so when that National Guard unit in San Antonio is asked by Donald Trump on Nov. 3 to seize the ballot boxes in that precinct in San Antonio \u2014\u00a0because he knows that our candidates are going to win \u2014\u00a0that guard member will defy this illegal order and know the American people, more importantly the people of San Antonio, are with me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Rourke spoke at UTSA-area watering hole The Block. The rally was a voter registration event<\/a> organized by Powered by People, which works to get young people involved in progressive politics.<\/p>\n

The rally was also attended by state Sen. Roland Gutierrez; Katy Padilla Stout, the Democratic candidate for Texas\u2019 23rd Congressional District; and Johnny Garcia, a Democrat running to represent the Texas\u2019 35th Congressional District.<\/p>\n

With the election just 60 days out, Texas Democrats continue to surge in the polls<\/a>. Recent surveys show U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, gubernatorial hopeful Gina Hinojosa and congressional candidate Bobby Pulido either ahead or in virtual ties.<\/p>\n

After his speech, O\u2019Rourke told the Current that the polls have Republicans scared, adding that he\u2019s skeptical the party will be willing to give up power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe county judge and the Republican majority on the Tarrant County Commissioners Court admitted that they are trying to give Republicans an advantage by shutting down polling places in what they believe to be Democrat precincts,\u201d O\u2019Rourke said. \u201cAlso coincidentally, these precincts happen to be overwhelmingly Latino and Black. So, here you have one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States, and you\u2019re reducing the number of polling places there by one-third. This is just one of the many tactics Republicans are using.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Antonio-area residents can check their voting registration status by visiting the Bexar County Elections website<\/a>, or by logging onto votetexas.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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