Last night, I was in the room as Beto O’Rourke took the stage at the Howlin’ Wolf in New Orleans and fired up a crowd of over 2,000 people. This wasn’t a typical town hall. It was a blunt, emotional call to action, focused on resisting authoritarianism, organizing from the ground up, and refusing to write off the South. “This is not a red state,” Beto said. “This is a rigged state,” calling out the voter suppression, gerrymandering, and lack of national Democratic support in Louisiana, a state where registered Democrats and Republicans are nearly equal in number.He also spoke about the fight in his home state of Texas, where Democrats are battling extreme gerrymandering efforts that could wipe out five Democratic seats and set a dangerous precedent nationwide.
He didn’t hold back. Beto warned about the rising consolidation of power, slammed Trump’s enablers as “cowardly quislings,” and called out Merrick Garland directly: “I hope Merrick Garland has a nice retirement, but he had four fucking years to put Donald Trump away for crimes he committed in broad daylight.” He talked about the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” that hands tax breaks to the rich while gutting social safety nets and how we’re watching democracy unravel in real time unless we act.
But the town hall wasn’t just about naming problems. It was a reminder that real power starts at the local level, with people showing up, organizing, and listening.
Beto closed by urging the crowd not to give up on Louisiana — or themselves:“Don’t let them tell you New Orleans doesn’t count. This might be the place we win back power.”
The message was clear: stop waiting for national leaders to save us. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
