Beto O’Rourke may face Greg Abbott : NPR

Beto O’Rourke has won the Democratic nomination for the Texas governor’s race.

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Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Beto O’Rourke has won the Democratic nomination for the Texas governor’s race.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas congressman and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, has easily won his party’s nomination for Texas governor, according to a race call from The Associated Press.

O’Rourke is likely to face incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, whose primary contest against several far-right opponents has not been decided.

An O’Rourke-Abbott clash would be a closely watched general election race.

Abbott, who is seeking his third term in office, has secured the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, and has tens of millions of dollars in his war chest.

Pre-primary polling has found Abbott besting O’Rourke, and Texas hasn’t elected a Democratic governor for more than three decades.

But O’Rourke emerged in 2018 as a new face of Texas’ Democratic Party, as he energized a new generation of voters while running against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

Though beaten in that contest, O’Rourke remained in the public spotlight, riding a wave of Beto-mania into the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, where he flamed out and took some left-leaning positions that may complicate his efforts to appeal to Texans.

And the landscape in 2022 is likely to be a far cry from that of 2018 and 2020. President Biden’s ratings are low — an ominous warning for down-ballot Democrats.