Beto O'Rourke, Ted Cruz meet with voters ahead of debate in Houston

GALVESTON, Texas – In a packed special events center at Texas A&M Galveston, Beto O’Rourke promised “we can make a historic election for Texas!”

“If we really care, not about the next election, but the next generation, then there are some decision we have to make right now,” O’Rourke said.

He spent the first 20 minutes talking about his hometown, El Paso, a model, he said, “of what this country can become.”

His three children attend bilingual public school there. His grandparents, he said, would have been disciplined for speaking Spanish in the same schools.

“We’ve come a long way,” O’Rourke said.

He invited Rhonda Hart, the mother of Kimberly Vaughn, who was gunned down at Santa Fe high school earlier this year, onto the stage.

“You can be gun-sense safety, and still pro-Second Amendment!” Hart said to a standing ovation.

“It’s really scary to think that schools are so unsafe today,” said A&M sophomore Ali Gottshalk.

Her sister attends school near Santa Fe High, she said. Gun safety is one of the most important issues of the election for her. Until Monday night’s rally, she hadn’t heard of O’Rourke.

“Everything's true about what he says, he's very charismatic, Kennedy-esque,” said Brandon Saldivar, another sophomore and a Republican who wanted to see what all of the fuss was about.

“I like issues on both sides,” Saldivar said. “I value economic views heavily, and just I think Ted Cruz has better stances on economics than Beto O’Rourke.”

Before the rally, KPRC’s Jacob Rascon asked O’Rourke whether he believes Supreme Court nominee’s conformation should be stooped, as some Democrats have suggested, in light of new accusers.

“I think it's very reasonable for these accusations to be investigated by the FBI,” he responded. “There's no reason to rush this. It's important for everyone to have their chance to tell their story.”

Rascon asked O’Rourke what he believes should happen now that it appears Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein may be on his way out.

“Ensuring the integrity of the Bob Mueller investigation, following the facts as far as they go, as high as they reach” is most important, O’Rourke said. “Whatever happens with the deputy attorney general, I think it's imperative that the independence and integrity of the special counsel's investigation be protected.”

Cruz has also been busy trying to sway voters.

He spent part of the weekend on the west side of the state.

He took part in a meet-and-greet in Lubbock on Saturday afternoon.

Later that night, Cruz visited Amarillo to meet with potential voters.

Cruz, of course, will be in Houston this weekend for his second debate with O'Rourke, at the University of Houston.