Beto O’Rourke is running for governor of Texas in 2022, challenging the Republican incumbent Greg Abbott with a pledge to avoid culture-war politics to focus on quality-of-life issues. The Democrat announced his run in an interview with Texas Monthly and posted a video on his website touting his candidacy. He said Abbott’s administration has been focusing on issues like abortion and gun rights while ignoring day-to-day concerns like the resiliency of the electricity grid and quality jobs. “They’re focusing on the kind of extremist policies around abortion or permit-less carry or even in our schools that really only divide us, keep us apart, stop us from working together on the truly big things we want to achieve,” O’Rourke said in the video. “It’s a really small vision for such a big state.” The official announcement comes one year before the 2022 election and just weeks before the Dec. 13 filing deadline for candidates to throw their hats in the ring. The 49-year-old former congressman lost to Ted Cruz when running for senate in 2018 and was a candidate for the 2020 presidential election before dropping out. No Democrat has won statewide office in Texas since 1992. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Subscribe to our newest channel Quicktake Explained: https://bit.ly/3iERrup Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake: https://cor.us/surveys/27AF30 Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake