Beto O'Rourke calls for more nuanced border policy, legalization of marijuana in Texas

SEABROOK, Texas - Democrat Beto O’Rourke is convinced he can knock Greg Abbott out of the governor’s mansion by simply convincing Texans he can fix what’s wrong with the Lone Star State.

FOX 26 spoke with O’Rourke Wednesday after the candidate toured the massive container terminal in Seabrook in southeast Harris County. During the interview, O'Rourke broke down how he intends to fix the state. 

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For starters, that means healthcare for the uninsured with the expansion of Medicaid, a plan to create lots of new good-paying jobs, a guaranteed strategy to prevent the power grid from failing, and a much more nuanced, pragmatic approach to solving the border crisis.

"We need to listen to Texans, especially those who live on the border in re-writing our laws to meet the needs that we have,"  said O’Rourke. "There is huge demand for workers from other countries to come here, many of whom, perhaps the majority of which don’t want to become U.S. citizens, don’t want to lead their whole lives here." 

"They want to make money provide for their families and return to their countries of origin," he continued. "Let’s make sure we have a program that does that and have Texas lead the way in writing that."

And then there is the issue of cannabis; O’Rourke says it’s high time it was legalized in Texas.

"We have got to legalize marijuana," said O’Rourke. "It’s absolutely crazy that in this state we are locking up people for a substance that’s legal in most of the rest of the country." 

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"It’s also, once legalized and taxed, an additional revenue stream for this state which we can invest in public education and roads and bridges, whatever our needs are, and we can reduce the burden on the property taxpayer," he added.