Beto O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman and Democratic candidate, made remarks over the weekend urging Democratic-led states to take assertive action in redrawing congressional districts. In a widely circulated video clip from Saturday, O’Rourke compared the current political climate to a basketball game without referees and called for Democrats to “maximize Democratic Party advantage.”
“Listen, you may say to yourself, ‘well those aren’t the rules,’” O’Rourke told the crowd. “There are no refs in this game. … We are going to win whatever it takes. We are going to take this to them in every way that we can.“
O’Rourke’s comments have drawn criticism from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. According to a news release from Paxton’s office, O’Rourke stated he would continue fundraising despite a restraining order because “there are no refs in this game.” The release emphasized legal consequences for violating court orders: “There is a referee—the Honorable Megan Fahey—and there are rules—namely, that a person violating a temporary restraining order can be fined up to $500 and jailed for up to six months.”
The video of O’Rourke’s speech has been shared widely on social media platforms.
