Five days before election day, Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke stopped to speak and vote with UTEP students at the school’s Union Building. O’Rourke was joined by his successor U.S. Congresswoman Veronica Escobar, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego and UTEP’s chapter of the University Democrats of El Paso. 

Escobar spoke on the importance of younger people’s involvement in politics and how this upcoming election is critical for the future. 

“This turnout has not been as good as expected among young people who, frankly, are going to be the most impacted by the race,” Escobar said. “We were brainstorming around what we could do, and we heard from (O’Rourke’s) campaign that he wanted to vote (at UTEP) and we pulled this together very quickly.” 

O’Rourke echoed that sentiment when speaking to reporters while also commenting on the difficulties minorities face when seeking higher education. 

“Let’s make sure that it is easier to afford to come to UTEP or El Paso Community College or any institution of higher learning,” O’Rourke said. “We’d love for those resources to be distributed a little more fairly across the state to defray the expense of this higher education that unlocks so many options and opportunities.” 

O’Rourke faces off against incumbent Governor Greg Abbott on election day Tuesday, Nov. 8. 

Emmanuel Rivas Valenzuela is the sports editor and may be reached at [email protected]: @rivasemmanuel2 on Instagram