Texas Democrats pushing pot legalization on the campaign trail

HOUSTON - In the Lone Star State, the legalization of marijuana is becoming a campaign centerpiece for Democrats up and down the ballot.

"What if we legalize marijuana in the state of Texas so that we are no longer locking up fellow Texans for possessing a substance that is legal in most of the rest of the country today?" said Beto O'Rourke, Democratic candidate for Texas Governor.

SIGN UP FOR FOX 26 HOUSTON EMAIL ALERTS

Turns out, advocating for an end to pot prohibition appears to make sound political sense for progressives.

Recent polling by the Hobby School at UH and Texas Southern University found a substantial 67% of Texans, including half who identify as Republicans, favor full legalization of weed.

Texas Attorney General Candidate Joe Jaworski is among Democrats loudly calling for a lifting of the ban.

"When we remove this wasteful petty prosecution from the books, we fund the police, because we will save $300 million a year statewide so that the police and prosecutors can fight real crime," said Jaworski.

FOR THE LATEST NEWS UPDATES, DOWNLOAD THE FOX 26 NEWS APP

Rice University political analyst Mark Jones predicts decriminalizing pot will be a boilerplate issue for Democrats aiming to maximize the party's growing edge with the youngest generation of Texas voters.  

"Younger Texans overwhelmingly favor the legalization of marijuana. This is a great issue for Democrats to get voters 18 to 30, who may be otherwise don't turn out to vote, but maybe mobilized to vote by this issue," said Jones.

18 states and the District of Columbia have lifted legal sanctions for the recreational use of marijuana.