The candidates had no time for introductory comments and delivered 30-second closing remarks, a format that showcased Mr. Abbott’s strengths as a direct and often terse speaker, and limited Mr. O’Rourke’s tendency to build long rhetorical flourishes.
And the timing, a Friday night when many Texans are more engrossed in high school football, seemed likely to reduce the number of people watching live.
Chris Evans, a spokesman for Mr O’Rourke, said before the debate that the Abbott campaign had proposed the terms and would not agree to any changes. “They refused to have voters in the audience,” he said. An Abbott spokesman, Mark Miner, said Mr O’Rourke was “unfit to run the state if he can’t even understand the simple rules of debate”.
Texas Democrats have pinned their hopes on Mr. O’Rourke before, but so far he has only managed to be victorious in defeat. In his 2018 Senate bid, he came within three percentage points of unseating Sen. Ted Cruz, a strong showing in Republican-dominated but still losing Texas.
Friday’s debate, just weeks before the start of early voting in Texas, came at a crucial time for both campaigns, particularly Mr. O’Rourke’s. Over the summer, some polls had suggested a tightening of the race after the Uvalde murders and the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. But more recent polls show Mr Abbott more firmly in control, with a lead of around seven percentage points.
For Mr. O’Rourke, the former congressman from El Paso and 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, the debate was a chance to regain momentum and his most direct opportunity to pursue his case against Mr. Abbott, a two-term holder who has ruled the state for eight years under the unified Republican control of the state government.
For Mr. Abbott, it was a night to get away with it unscathed. His campaign had been preparing for the encounter for weeks, seeing Mr O’Rourke as a skilled debater with significant experience from his 2020 presidential run.