Democratic Congressman Beto O'Rourke joined WFAA's Inside Texas Politics on Sunday to discuss his race for U.S. Senate against incumbent Republican Ted Cruz.
Watch the full interview above.
Here are a few highlights from O'Rourke's interview with WFAA's Jason Whitely and the Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy:
Whitely: Closing in on the final days, public polls have you down. How do you make that up now?
O'Rourke: I don't know – I wouldn't concede that we're down. I think a lot of the people we're seeing and visiting and showing up for are not reflected in anyone's polls. Folks who don't typically vote in midterm elections but will vote in this one. Students who registered to vote for the first time. People who dropped out for 20 years and are back in because everything's on the line. I feel really good about our chances.
Whitely: You've raised three times as much as Sen. Cruz. Your rallies are significantly larger than any of his are. Why isn't that reflected in the polls?
O'Rourke: My contention would be that the polls may or may not be able to predict the outcomes of these political races anymore, at least not in the way that they used to be. I'll put my money where my mouth is: I haven't hired a pollster. We're not putting any of these resources into doing polls. We're showing up where people are and listening to them.
Kennedy: Is there a number on turnout that you have to hit? Turnout is usually 35 percent for midterms. What number will it take for you to feel like you can win?
O'Rourke: I don't know. There may have been someone on our team who has done a projection on this is what it's going to take. I'm going as hard as humanly possible, as are all of our volunteers and block walkers. Whatever the number is, we know it's going to take everything we got, going to every community and neighborhood to get that out, make sure we're connecting with everybody.
Whitely: Congressman, some Democrats are wondering why you're not hitting President Trump harder, why you aren't linking your opponent to him. What do you tell them?
O'Rourke: I'm reflecting the energy of this state. We're not organized against anybody or against any political party. We're organized for this country. We want to make sure that we're defined by our ambitions, not by who we don't like, who we're afraid of, who we want to defeat. The big things we want to do are only possible if we decide to do them together. That's Republicans and Democrats working together.
Whitely: I know you've seen the headlines – one of the most recent ones: "Beto isn't running for Senate anymore," instead your campaign is looking at 2020. You constantly rebuff that, but what do you tell people who wonder if you have higher aspirations?
O'Rourke: I tell them that I don't. So my answer is, "Are you running for President?" No, period...definitely no for the next six years. I want to serve every single day for Texas in the U.S. Senate to deliver on our priorities, to make sure we come through for the communities of North Texas and every single part of the state. You can't do that and run for the presidency at the same time. We saw that when Ted Cruz left the state to do that. So I'm committed to Texas.