Beto O'Rourke to host Fort Worth rally supporting Democrats breaking quorum

Rachel Royster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Aug 6, 2025

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke is headed back to Fort Worth, this time to rally support for the Democratic state legislators breaking quorum to stall a redistricting. It’s one of the two Texas stops he is making on his national tour.

“The People vs. The Power Grab” will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9, in the Ridglea Theatre on Camp Bowie Boulevard. The event will be hosted by O’Rourke’s voter registration and mobilization group Powered By People.

The event is intended to rile constituents against the Texas congressional redistricting, which was set into motion by President Donald Trump’s hope to gain five seats in the 2026 midterm elections.

The sole suggested map does just that despite public outcry against any redistricting. The map would remove District 33 represented by Marc Veasey, a Fort Worth Democrat, from Tarrant County.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, whose San Antonio district is largely unaffected by the potential new map, will also be speaking at the rally.

The Texas House Select Committee on Redistricting voted in favor of presenting the map to the full House of Representatives, but the Democratic legislators left the state to prevent that from happening. As punishment for their absence, which breaks the quorum necessary for any decision-making, each legislator is fined $500 per day.

All donations made at the event will go straight to the House Democratic Caucus, according to Chris Evans, a spokesperson from O’Rourke’s team.

Evans said the public rallies have been well attended.

“Kansas City really stood out because we were over capacity,” Evans said. “There were 1,000 people, maybe 1,100 inside, and then there were still like 200 people outside who couldn’t get in. So he went outside to talk to them before the event. It was just cool to see them, people all down the street, trying to be part of what was happening.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation Wednesday into O’Rourke’s organization Powered By People for potentially violating bribery laws.

“Any Democrat coward breaking the law by taking a Beto Bribe will be held accountable,” said Paxton in a press release. “Texas cannot be bought. I look forward to thoroughly reviewing all of the documents and communications obtained throughout this investigation. These jet-setting runaways have already lost public trust by abandoning our state, and Texans deserve to know if they received illegal bribes to do it.”

According to the press release, Powered by People has been one of the top financial supporters of the Texas House Democrats.

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