Here we are on Election Day and the media is still trying to make Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke a thing in Texas. O’Rourke has not led in any polling throughout the campaign between incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott and O’Rourke, the Democrat challenger. Yet, hope springs eternal with Democrats and their minions in the press. I just read an AP headline that declared, “O’Rourke hopes to upset Texas Gov. Abbott’s bid for 3rd term” and I had to shake my head.

You do you, AP, but the rest of us are moving on from the fever dream of Texas Democrats and others across the country that this is the election when Texas goes blue. It’s like they didn’t hear this is a red wave election because their guy, Sleepy Joe Biden, has so failed Americans that even Democrats are disgruntled enough to give Republican candidates a second look. Democrats have not won a statewide office since 1994. Beto O’Rourke isn’t going to break that losing streak this time around. Republicans running for statewide offices are all well-positioned to win re-election, even Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who is under indictment. Texas is a purple-y state in many areas but as far as statewide offices go, Texas is still the country’s largest red state.

For several election cycles now, Texas Democrats hope that this time Texas will go back to the days of being a blue state. There is not a path to victory for any Republican presidential candidate without Texas and Democrats know this. They don’t want a Republican president and they don’t want Republican leadership in Texas. In the latest Real Clear Politics aggregated averaging, Governor Abbott is up over O’Rourke by 10.4 points. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It won’t be the Apocalypse for Democrats but it’ll be a solid win and that is all that matters. Buh-bye, Beto. Time to start planning the next office he’ll run for, I guess. Hollywood and coastal elites still rally to send him millions of dollars in contributions as though he is not a perpetual candidate who loses elections.

Desperate Democrats brought Barack Obama to O’Rourke’s rescue. He recorded a robocall to try to get out the vote for O’Rourke. The calls began going out Monday and will continue to go out today, Election Day.

“Hey, it’s Barack Obama. I’m calling because there’s an election on Tuesday and everything’s at stake,” the call begins. “On reproductive rights, Greg Abbott has signed one of the most extreme abortion laws in America. Beto O’Rourke will protect a woman’s right to choose.”

“On issue after issue, Beto O’Rourke will restore common sense and decency to Texas state government,” Obama says on the call obtained by The Dallas Morning News. “That’s why I’m asking you to vote for Beto, and help build the America we deserve.”

Obama then discusses the need to curb mass shootings and says O’Rourke would expand Medicaid under the terms of the Affordable Care Act, the former president’s signature legislative accomplishment.

“On gun safety, Greg Abbott made it easier to buy guns just before 19 kids and their teachers were murdered in Uvalde,” he says. “Beto O’Rourke will work to restore common sense. On health care, Greg Abbott has refused to bring home billions of dollars in Medicaid money to give more Texans access to health care. Beto will do what’s right.”

Barack didn’t bother to come and campaign with O’Rourke in Texas as he did for other candidates in a last-minute get-out-the-vote panic. The robocalls are targeting black communities in Dallas and Houston. Early voting data shows voting is down in Dallas and Harris counties, where black voters dominate the electorate.

Texas Democrats even got Bill Clinton to campaign on Monday in the Rio Grande Valley on behalf of two Democrat congressional candidates in tight races. Clinton campaigned for Rep. Henry Cuellar, a conservative Democrat (the only pro-life Democrat in the House) in Laredo. He also campaigned for Michelle Vallejo, the Democratic Party nominee for the 15th Congressional District race in Edinburg.

Clinton credited the GOP for being “hard to beat in a bumper sticker campaign” at an afternoon rally for Michelle Vallejo, the Democratic candidate in Texas’ 15th Congressional District.

Vallejo is one of three South Texas Democrats locked in highly competitive congressional races with Republicans who are Latina.

Vallejo faces Republican Monica De La Cruz, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump and who is considered the GOP’s best chance to win a seat in the area.

The districts have been solidly Democratic for more than a century. Legislative redistricting has shifted their boundaries over the years, and the 15th Congressional District was drawn to favor Republicans.

We’ll know soon if Republicans have successfully flipped three congressional districts historically dominated by Democrats for over a century. Three Latina Republican women, all married to Border Patrol agents, are running strong campaigns against their Democrat opponents. Rep. Mayra Flores won a special election in TX-34 and is now running for a full term. She is the first Republican in that office in over 100 years.

No matter what else happens in Texas elections tonight, Robert Francis O’Rourke will not become the next governor and that’s great news.