HOUSTON — Hollywood and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda crisscrossed Houston Tuesday in town to campaign for Texas democrats. His last stop of the night was a major get-out-the-vote rally with gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke.
It was the last major rally for O'Rourke in Houston before early voting gets underway next week.
Miranda, the award-winning creator of Hamilton, made his pitch to voters on why he believes O'Rourke needs to be the next governor of Texas.
"The eyes of the country and of the world are on Texas, so we wanted to bring whatever spotlight we have here to show what's at stake in this election," said Miranda.
The rally capped off a day of campaigning for Miranda. He told the crowd Texas can turn blue, but it starts this election with young people and Latinos.
"Everything is on the ballot for these young people," said Miranda. "Their bodies are on the ballot. Gun control is on the ballot. Immigration is on the ballot. These are all issues they're facing. If this room is any indication today, yeah, I hope they show up."
Miranda pointed out that Democratic Attorney General candidate Rochelle Garza would be the first Latina AG of Texas if elected. She spoke at the rally before O'Rourke took the stage.
O'Rourke attacked Abbott on his Uvalde response, the grid, and the country's most restrictive abortion ban. He rallied supporters to make a plan to vote now and stressed the importance of the youth vote for his chances in November.
"They're not on anybody's radar, not on anybody's poll, this campaign as of 2 weeks ago had already registered 70,000 college students, those are just college students from our fellows on college campuses across the state of Texas," O'Rourke said. "I am confident young people are going to lead the way, as they always do, and they're going to lead us to victory."
Earlier in the day, Miranda was at the University of Houston moderating a panel of young voters discussing the big issues driving them to the polls. The event was hosted by NextGen America, the largest youth vote-organizing group in the country.
Polls continue to show O'Rourke and Garza still trailing by four to five points behind their Republican opponents, but O'Rourke stressed record turnout can change that.
O'Rourke next heads on a 7 cities in 7 days statewide tour to rally voters before early voting begins Monday.