Gov. Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke accused each other of misinforming Texans during their debate. Here are the facts.

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Gov. Greg Abbott, who’s searching for a 3rd time period, and Beto O’Rourke, the Democrat attempting to unseat him in November, confronted off of their solely scheduled debate Friday evening and sparred over the main points within the race, from immigration to gun insurance policies to the reliability of Texas’ energy grid since a February 2021 winter storm left hundreds of thousands with out energy or warmth for days.

All through the controversy — held within the empty auditorium on the College of Texas Rio Grande Valley campus in Edinburg — Abbott and O’Rourke continuously accused one another of getting their info improper or mendacity to Texas voters. Here is a few of the claims they mentioned through the debate and what you must find out about every concern:

Abbott on busing migrants to New York

The assertion: Abbott mentioned New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams “has by no means known as my workplace, by no means talked to anyone in my administration” to coordinate with Texas since Abbott’s resolution to bus 1000’s of migrants from Texas to New York and different Democrat-run large cities.

What you must know: Adams’ press secretary Fabien Levy instructed The Texas Tribune that Adams’ workplace reached out to a member of Abbott’s administration they usually spoke on the telephone on Aug. 1 about alerting Adams’ workers earlier than the migrants’ arrival to New York Metropolis.

Levy shared an email from Adams’ workplace, dated Aug. 1, that he mentioned was an effort to observe up on the telephone name with Abbott’s workers earlier that day. The e-mail doesn’t particularly point out migrants or busing. Levy mentioned Adams’ workplace didn’t obtain a reply from Abbott’s workers.

4 days later, on Aug. 5, Abbott introduced he was sending migrants to New York Metropolis on buses. That announcement got here two weeks after Adams held a press convention saying that asylum seekers have been already arriving in New York Metropolis on buses despatched by the Texas and Arizona governments.

Texas’ rating on psychological well being entry

The assertion: Abbott repeated his declare that psychological well being issues lead folks to commit mass shootings and mentioned the state is addressing that concern. O’Rourke mentioned Texas ranks final within the nation for psychological well being care entry. Abbott disagreed and mentioned Texas ranks twenty seventh.

What you must know: A 2022 report from Psychological Well being America helps O’Rourke’s assertion that Texas’ restricted availability of psychological well being sources places the state 51st within the nation — together with Washington D.C. — for psychological well being care entry. It’s not clear what metric Abbott was referring to when he claimed that Texas ranked twenty seventh. Abbott’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for clarification on Saturday.

O’Rourke additionally accused Abbott of taking $211 million supposed for psychological well being care from the state funds. That quantity was subtracted from the funds of the Texas Well being and Human Companies Fee , which oversees psychological well being points, over a two 12 months interval, to assist fund Abbott’s Operation Lone Star border initiative. It’s not clear if that cash would have instantly gone to enhance psychological well being care entry.

The aftermath of Texas’ energy grid failures 

The assertion: Abbott mentioned that no Texan has misplaced electrical energy due to energy grid failures because the February 2021 winter storm, whereas O’Rourke faulted Abbott for failing to right vital issues with the grid earlier than its failure in 2021.

What you must know: The 2021 winter storm that induced the ability grid to fail, leaving hundreds of thousands with out energy or warmth and inflicting a whole bunch of deaths, got here years after earlier excessive climate occasions uncovered the grid’s vulnerabilities, which lawmakers did not right throughout Abbott’s tenure.

After the 2021 storm, the Legislature accredited, and Abbott signed, quite a few payments aimed toward enhancing the grid — though consultants have mentioned these efforts is probably not sufficient.

Whereas the state’s grid operator requested that Texans cut back electrical energy utilization a number of occasions earlier this 12 months when demand threatened to exceed provide, no main grid-related outages have been reported within the state since February 2021; there have been localized outages attributable to a wide range of causes unrelated to the state grid — similar to tree limbs falling on energy traces.

On Texas’ (and California’s) taxes

The assertion: O’Rourke mentioned that Texans pay extra in taxes than Californians.

What you must know: O’Rourke’s assertion is each true and false — relying on an individual’s tax bracket. For Texans with salaries within the prime 20% of the state, native and state taxes quantity to 7.5% or much less of their revenue, in keeping with the Institute of Taxation and Financial Coverage. Californians in that very same bracket pay no less than 9.4% of their incomes to state and native taxes.

On the opposite finish of the financial spectrum, the alternative is true. Texans who’re within the backside 20% of earnings pay 13% of their revenue in taxes, whereas everybody in that very same bracket in California pays 10.5%. In Texas, the upper a family’s revenue, the decrease the tax charge, in keeping with the institute’s evaluation. In California, the tax burden is lowest for center revenue earners, with low-income and high-income residents paying the next proportion in taxes.

O’Rourke’s stance on gun management

The assertion: A debate moderator mentioned that O’Rourke has made conflicting statements about whether or not he helps confiscating AR-15-style rifles from Texans.

What you must know: Whereas campaigning through the 2020 presidential election O’Rourke mentioned he supported confiscating AR-15-style rifles, however earlier this 12 months he mentioned he doesn’t help seizing weapons. O’Rourke mentioned, if elected, he would deal with elevating the age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle like an AR-15 from 18 to 21 — a purpose which he mentioned was extra politically achievable than confiscating weapons.

Abbott has rejected calls to extend the buying age to purchase semi-automatic rifles — as Florida did following the taking pictures deaths of 17 folks at a highschool in Parkland in 2018 — saying that might be unconstitutional.