>> i don't want to go into the details. i had a thorough session. several days. >> several days, that was when we spoke earlier. you can add another one because bob mueller's called bannon back. that does it for us. "ha "hardball" with chris matthews is up next. >> one week from today americans head to the polls for an historic election that will determine the balance of power in congress. >> i'm not on the ballot but in a certain way i'm on the ballot. >> it will either create a check on president trump's power or embolden him. >> i'm really looking to make america great again. >> and it could all come down to texas. >> do we defend freedom or do we give in to tyranny? >> ted cruz has the backing of his former bitter rival. >> he's not lying ted anymore, he's beautiful ted. >> but beto o'rourke has caught fire. >> i cannot think of anything

anymore american than to peacefully stand up or take a knee. >> raising tons of cash. >> he's dishonest. that's why the president called him lying ted and it's why the nickname stuck. >> in a state that hasn't elected a democratic senator for a quarter century, tonight the rising star of the party takes center stage. >> you have inspired me. >> what are his plans for texas? >> the least insured state in the country could take the lead on guaranteed high quality universal health care. >> can he pull off an upset in the lone star state? >> we the people of texas are making something extraordinary happen. >> is this all a step to a white house run in 2020? ♪ ♪ >> "hardball" college tour with beto o'rourke live from the

university of houston. let's play "hardball." [ cheers and applause ] >> beto. >> how are you. >> beto o'rourke. >> yeah! >> whose house? >> whose house? >> whose house? did you tlaern? that's how we talk here at the university of houston. i want to get to a lot of people where you come from, how you got your nickname. let's talk about the news

tonight and what's happened this past week. some people see a connection about the president's rhetoric and invasions and the horrors of last week, by the horrors i mean the bombs being dropped in the media doorstep, i'm talking about two african-american guys being shot dead, i'm talking about the attack on that synagogue in pittsburgh. the atmospherics, how much is this president responsible for the atmospherics? >> the invitation to hate openly, unapologetically, to call mexican immigrants rapists and criminals to call asylum seekers animals, to describe white nationalists, clans men, neonazis and very fine people, that has certainly contributed to the environment that we see in this country at this moment. the challenge though is not to assess blame but to try to lead by example. that's what i see here in houston, the most diversity in the united states of america. that's what i see in -- an

understanding that our very strength is premised that we are from all over the world and we have come together here in the greatest nation that the world has ever known. we're going to shine through right now at this moment of division, this moment of polarization, this moment of smallness and pettiness and meanness, we're going to come through with our courage, with our confidence, with our strength. i know that because i've traveled the state. i've been with everyone. that's what texas wants to do. i'm very confident that on november 6th you're going to see that in action. >> wie've seen leaders in times of stress, bobby kennedy, that night he walked into indianapolis and he talked to a black community. he appealed to them to understand common humanity, to try to get past this. do you think if trump acted like that the country would be different? can he act like that? is he capable of it? >> i don't think he's capable of it, but that doesn't have to limit who we are as a people. we are more than the president

of the united states, the current occupant of the white house. i know that from traveling the state and finding republicans who may have voted for trump who don't approve of this behavior and rhetoric. i see people who want to be defined not by our fears, not who we're supposed to be scared of, our ambitions and aspirations. this a idea of walls orbaning people based on their religion. we're tearing kids away from their most vulnerable, most desperate moment, that's not us, that's not the united states of america. in a democracy where the people are the government and the government is the people, it's on every single one of us to make that change. this election on the 6th of november is our chance to do that. if the early voter turnout is any indication, the people are showing up. >> i talked to the grandson of robert kennedy. he said what separates you from other politicians he knows is you basically don't worry about

polls, you don't ask about opinion surveys, you don't check out where people's heads are going. he said, you have a faith in the goodness of the american people. explain. to do the right thing. >> yeah. our only poll is visiting the 254 counties of texas. having town halls all over the place. never discriminating based on party affiliation or who you last voted for for president. finding out how you want to come together and decide the future of this country. it's been the most inspiring, the most hopeful, the most thrilling, the most optimistic journey of my life to be with the people of texas all over the state of texas. when you add to that the courage of your convictions, never taking a poll to find out where you fall, never needing a weather man to find out which way the wind blows. you can say who you are and the people know that. if we owe those who decide this ee loeks it is our candor, our believes. it is listening to them and

reflecting that in the senate. >> over the weekend the president had an opportunity to do something like that. we had the horror at that synagogue. 11 people killed. a religious killing really is what it was, it was like out of the middle ages or the worst part of the 20th century. the president went right out on the stump, right on stirring things up again, blaming everything on a congresswoman from california or nancy pelosi. getting the -- why do you think he thinks that's a winner? because he must think that's going to do something for him. stirring it up. >> i don't know why he thinks that. it's up to us, the people, to decide if it is a winning strategy. to blame the press, to blame migrants and refugees, to blame -- >> it got him elected. >> yeah, it may have contributed to his election, but it's up to us to decide who we are. there's this great line from harry truman that the american people are founded not on fear but on courage, imagination and unstoppable determination to do the job at hand. i think that still describes us.

i believe our best days are yet ahead. we don't have to return to some greatness, literally through 2,000 miles of walls separate ourselves from the rest of the world. we don't have to renege on our agreements, values, on our alliances that we have fought for and established and secured over the last 80 years. all of that is happening during this administration. that can define us for the generations to come or what we choose to do now at this defining mid term election, that might be how we are known for the people of the future. the kids, the grandkids, those kids and grandkids of generations yet unborn who will read about us, the people of 2018, and they'll say, in the face of all this smallness and all this fear and all this paranoia, these people stood up. they were counted. they did the right thing at the moment that history was calling for them. i love that i get to be a part of this and that so many young people especially at this defining moment of truth are getting out there, leading right now on any issue that you could care about whether it's access

to health care, affordability of higher education, meeting the existential challenge of climate change or ensuring that every dreamer, more than 1 million strong in this country, no longer has to fear deportation because they're made u.s. citizens here in this country. continuing to make it the greatest place on the planet. that's what i hear from the people of texas, especially the young people of texas. >> you mentioned harry truman who was the first president to integrate the military service. he had the guts to do the right things, he brought all the groups together, races. this president is talking about getting rid of the 14th amendment effectively. he wants to get rid of birth right citizenship. if you were born here, you won't make an american. today he's talking about that. >> interesting that he drops this proposal with a week to go until the november 6th election. >> who he's playing to? >> interesting that he tries to stoke paranoia and fear about a group of migrants who are hundreds of miles, weeks away from the u.s./mexico border if

they even make it this far. i think he's trying to play upon the worst impulses of this country instead of speaking to our ambitions, hopes, dreams, those things that we can achieve if we all come together. i don't know what he's trying to do, i just know the task left to us which is to be the answer to that. our courage, our confidence, our strength. that has to define us going forward. it's up to us. i love that we have the chance to do it and i love all of the excitement, the enthusiasm, the energy that we're seeing out on the trail right now. it bodes very well. >> and on the record for the record you oppose amending the united states constitution, removing the 14th amendment and the birth right citizenship? >> absolutely. >> we have to take a question. a lot of student questions. [ cheers and applause ] first kwquestioner is from the university. andre a, go ahead with your question. >> hi, congressman o'rourke.

as one border native to another i'd like to ask you how you're going to address the issue of militarizing the border. >> this idea, a dre a, that we can send 5,000 u.s. service members to the border and somehow stop migrants, refugees, asylum seekers fleeing the most dangerous countries in the hemisphere or that we could build a 2,000 mile wall at a cost of $30 billion, where we have to take someone's ranch or farm or property through the use of imminent domain to build something that we don't need at a time of record security and safety at border communities like mine and el paso, we can be governed by our fears. then we are a very small people. we can be known by our ambitions. remember the proud heritage of this defining immigrant story, state and experience that is texas. that's who we are. we can share with our friends and our colleagues in the senate el paso's one of the safest cities in the united states of

america not in spite of but because we are a city of immigrants. people left their hometown, their family, their comfort, their culture, their country to come here, start anew as strangers in a strange land. >> thank you. i want to follow with that because a lot of people on both sides of the immigration issue have been very passionate, but i want direction here. in 2013 the united states said something remarkable. they passed a comprehensive bill on immigration. it had opportunities for a path to citizenship. it was rigorous but it was real. it was doable for a person not documented. they had enforcement, everify. it was a comprehensive bill. because of that i think 12 republicans supported it, people like john mccain and corker and ted kennedy.

it had a good bipartisan -- what did the republicans do? the speaker of the house refused to bring it up as a vote. >> that's right. >> had that bill come up in the house of representatives where you were serving, would you have voted for it? >> i would have worked with my colleagues to improve it so i could have voted for it. >> what didn't you like about it? >> well, to andre a's question, it had a significant militarization component of it. if you live in massachusetts, if you're going to change the quality of life for us in eagle pass, del rio, that's important to us. i wanted to make sure that my voice, those constituents that i represent in el paso are heard. and moved forward. >> and passed it. >> that's the essence of the democracy. >> you are the expert on this. this thing about bringing 5,000 soldiers, the soldiers have no authorization to be engaged with

border patrol. what are they going to do? not let them shoot anybody. they say we won't shoot anybody. what are they doing there? >> first of all, i think it dishon ners the service of those border patrol agents, the men and women serving on the line 20,000 strong who are doing an incredible job. let's get their back. i don't know that we need to send 5,000 service members. during the clinton era there was an attempt to mill tar rise the border. they shot someone in the back. the service member was not trained the way that border patrol was trained. he was trained for war. so let's make sure that we understand what could happen. let's make sure that we understand the relative safety of the border right now and let's come up with common sense bipartisan solutions to secure our communities, our state. it won't happen through walls and militarization. >> stick around. we have more from the live

"hardball" college tour at the university of houston with beto o'rourke. ( ♪ ) ready to juvéderm it? correct age-related volume loss in cheeks with juvéderm voluma xc, add fullness to lips with juvéderm ultra xc and smooth moderate to severe lines around the nose and mouth with juvéderm xc. tell your doctor if you have a history of scarring or are taking medicines that decrease the body's immune response or that can prolong bleeding. common side effects include injection-site redness, swelling, pain, tenderness, firmness, lumps, bumps, bruising, discoloration or itching. as with all fillers, there is a rare risk

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the university of houston band. bola is a student up front. tell us or ask your questions. >> hello, representative o'rourke. so considering the hyper partisan political atmosphere in congress, how do you feel you would conduct yourself among members of your own party and of the other party as well? >> bola, thank you for the question. i think the example we're trying to set in this campaign, go into every one of the 254 counties no matter how blue or no matter how red. go into king county, the county seat there guthrie, i think they voted for donald trump 96% in the last election. every bit as deserving of our respect, being heard, being l t listened to, being fought for. no one will be written off and no one will be taken granted for. we're showing up within every county and every community in every county. i've served el paso in congress. the only way i've gotten anything meaningful done is by,

working with my republican colleagues across the aisle, never allowing the perfect to become the enemy of the good. ensuring that we find consensus, common ground to make that common cause to do the common good expanding mental health care access for veterans. improving security and the flow of trade at our ports of entry. protecting public plans in the chihuahuan government. we see each other as not republicans, as democrats, as americans, texans, human beings. i'm confident there's no stopping us. that's the way i want to serve you in the united states senate. thank you, bola, for your question. >> rachel and the second amendment. >> hey, rachel. >> hi. >> hi, representative o'rourke. can't wait until we can call you senator o'rourke. whew! what's your stance on the second amendment? and how do you think texas can tackle the epidemic of mass shootings and gun violence we see across the nation especially

in terms of minority people who are particularly affected by this? >> i strongly support and want to protect the second amendment. i think it's a great opportunity for texas to lead. tell me a state that has a prouder, longer, richer her ri take of responsible gun ownership for hubnting, for sel protection, for collection, for sport, what have you? by and large we do it responsibly. what better state to lead the national conversation and how we protect more lives in our state and other states in the union. we lose 30,000 of our fellow americans to gun violence every year. no other developed country comes even close so we can either reach the conclusion that there is something wrong with us inherently bad, maybe even evil, we should just accept this as a force of nature, or we understand that there is a human solution to a human-caused problem. one step where i find a lot of common ground amongst gun owners and non-gun owners and republicans and democrats alike

is universal background checks. in those states we've seen adopt them we've seen a near 50% reduction in gun violence. fewer police officers and sheriff's deputies being shot by them. fewer girlfriends and boyfriends being killed by a loved one. let's at least take that first step and make sure that we protect more lives within our lives. then there are other steps we can take going forward. when we listen to one another, that's what we're doing in this campaign because we have not accepted a single dime from the nra or any other political action committee or special interest, when we listen to each other instead of the special interests, we can lead on the issues that are most important to texas and the country. thank you for your question. >> this is professor summer harlow with a question about the media. >> yes. thank you. i'm wondering given the anti-media, anti free press rhetoric that is so prevalent right now, what would you do as u.s. senator to ensure that the press is protected, journalists are protected and that they can

continue to serve as watchdogs for democracy? >> this idea fronted by the president that somehow the press are the enemy of the people reinforced by him tweeting out images of a reporter being hit by a train, body slammed in a wrestling ring is incitement to violence. i don't know any other way to call it. that undermines an essential pillar of the american democracy. 242 years in to this audacious experiment that is the exception, not the rule in world history, that we can freely choose those who represent us and guide the course and direction that this country will take. if we don't have a free press, if we cannot make informed decisions at the ballot box, if you can't hold people like me accountable and make sure that we're held honest to the promises that we made to the job that we're performing and the positions of public trust, we'll lose the very essence of our democracy. nothing guarantees us a 243rd or 244th year unless all of us

stand up for the institutions that make us so strong in the first place. so i think we need to vigorously defend the freedom of the press. we need to call out violations not just in this country, in countries like mexico, one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist. the killing of khashoggi by the saudi arabian government, there has to be consequences. there has to be accountability. there has to be justice. this is our chance to lead on one of the most important issues to our democracy and to freedom around the world. thank you for the question. appreciate it. >> thank you. [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you. we'll be right back with more questions for senator -- well, candidate beto o'rourke. you're watching "hardball." my ancestrydna results revealed parts of me i didn't even know. i find out i'm 19% native american

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♪ ♪ [ cheers and applause ] ♪ ♪ welcome back to "hardball" from the university of houston

with beto o'rourke. i was reminded that a lot of people in the country don't know you as well as these people know you. help introduce you to the world. your name is robert francis o'rourke. how come? was that bobby kennedy? was that an inspiration? robert francis? >> my grandfather on my mom's side was robert lee williams. i was named after him. my dad is pat francis o'rourke, son of john francis o'rourke. rfo. my oldest born is ulysses, ufo, u lis sies frab sis o'rourke. i was nick named beto. if you're named robert, albert, your nickname is beto. i was beto from day one. >> i want to ask you something about your opponent in this race and the president. president trump has called, let

me get this straight because i've written this down, he's called ted cruz a maniac, unstable and a liar, okay? senator cruz has called president trump a sniveling coward and a braggadocios buffoon. where are you? >> that's colorful language. >> you don't have an opinion? >> no. from the beginning we decided we wouldn't run against anybody or anything. we wanted to run for the future. >> trump is running against you and he calls you a total lightweight and you will never be allowed to turn texas into venezuela. i know that was on your plan. >> there goes that plan, yeah. >> what do you make of a president of the united states who stoops low enough to go after a senate candidate, he's called other people low i.q., lying ted, low energy jeb. >> right. >> yours is total lightweight.

how do you feel? >> i have lost about 20 pounds over the course of this campaign. [ cheers and applause ] >> i just -- i don't see any benefit in engaging with him at that level. i'll work with him, and we have. you know, he signed into law legislation that i worked with republican colleagues to expand mental health care access. worked on the defense bill with his administration. really love the secretary of the v.a., david shulkin. i'm getting to know the current one. there are places where we can find some common ground. >> you and the president. >> absolutely. >> give me one. >> work with him any time, anywhere. >> give me an example. >> i mentioned that legislation to expand mental health care for veterans. >> he's for that? >> he's for that. absolutely. i think he's really made a commitment to veterans. again, his former v.a. secretary

was one of the best i ever served with. the first v.a. secretary in the history of the v.a. to make reducing suicide his number one clinical priority. we lose 20 veterans a day. that's a conservative estimate. every single day by their own hand. the majority of whom have not been able to get into a v.a., for whatever reason did not go to a v.a. by focusing on it, calling it out, providing the resources necessary to connect those veterans with care, we're going to save more lives. i'm grateful they nominated him. that was a partner with whom we could work. if you take it from our perspective in texas, these trade policies, these tariffs on these cotton growers, on the pecan growers, on cattle ranchers, we feed and clothe through the food and fiber that we grow so much of the world right now. so much of the world's markets are going to start closing down to what we produce in texas unless we can get this right. we need a senator who can get through to the president or stand up to him if that's the only way to get this done to make sure that we protect the

livelihood and the resources that we have here in the state not to mention some of that really hateful rhetoric that we started out with. we need not just to be against that, we need to offer the positive example of our communities. this diversity that we are here with in houston. the things that we're proud of. the examples by which we want to lead. >> a lot of students here got to vote at 18. a lot got to vote as sophomores and they'll get to vote again before they're out of school. you've been voting since you were 18. did you ever make a mistake? did you ever vote for the wrong person? think. >> yeah. you know, i -- >> you're perfect in your voting record? >> yeah. well -- >> i had problems with some of my votes. you don't have any problems? >> school board trustees, city council members, county commissioners, presidential nominees. i've voted for them all. i'm sure if i went back through i could probably find somebody i wish i had not voted for. no one comes to mind. i'll tell you, i never regret

the fact that i voted. i love the fact that in this country, again, not the rule in the world, the envy of much of the rest of the planet, we get to do this. and my folks just brought us up that, listen, this is your responsibility. get informed. make sure you know what you're doing and go into that ballot box and pull the lever. >> do you think going into the war in iraq was a mistake? >> yes. >> thank you. that's all i need to know. thank you. we're going to be back with a lot of student questions. live from houston. we'll be right back. [ applause ] ♪ ♪ ♪

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[ cheers and applause ] college tour at the university of houston with beto o'rourke and we're going to have a bunch of questions. alex is a student here at the university and has a question about education. there you go, alex. >> good evening, congressman. >> evening. >> i have a question about education and how you plan on making it more affordable for lower income families. >> so, first of all, i want to make sure that pre-k through 12 is fully funded. that means school teachers in texas, nearly half of whom are

working a second or third job, that we decide we're going too pay them a living wage so they can focus on the kids and then i want to make sure that we make an investment in people and communities. that means ensuring that at least in the first two years of your education here at the university of houston or lone star community of college for your associates degree you do not take on any debt. that's not inexpensive. that's going to require an investment. we can make investments in corporations, special interests and tax breaks to the wealthy and we're going to invest in you and i want to invest in you. >> darby has a question about climate change. >> hi. following the recent u.n. report that we only have 12 years to reverse the effects of climate change, what will you do as senator to ensure the sustainability of our planet? >> tell me a community that understands climate change better than houston. last year 58 inches of rain.

a landfall record for as long as we've been keeping them in the continental of the united states. the third 500 year flood in just the last five years. by my math we should be good for 1500 years, but the scientists, if we're still going to listen to the scientists, tell us that those floods are only going to become more frequent storms like harvey only more damaging. we won't be worried about rebuilding after the next one. we won't be worried about living here at all. if the planet cooks another degree and a half celsius, the train is off the tracks. we won't be able to get it back. the good thus is there's time for us to lead. we can do so, however, in a far more responsible way. set the bar a little bit higher. allow the ingenuity and the companies to meet the challenge and the bar and seize the lead that texas already has in ren renewable energy. number one in country in the

generation of wind power. we can create the kind of jobs and economic growth that we need today to make sure that we deliver on our obligations to the days to come. texas can lead. thank you for the question. >> patricia has a question on women's rights to choose. >> hi. my question is about what is your plan to make sure women will continue to have the right to choose what happens to their own bodies? >> this is a state that since 2011 has shut down more than 1/4 of its family planning clinics, made it that much harder for women to get a cervical planning screening or family planning help or see a doctor at all. not unrelated to the fact that we are now at the epicenter of a maternal mortality crisis, three times as deadly for women of color. so when i talk about leading the way on guaranteed high quality universal health care, i'm also talking about health care meaning every woman makes her own decisions about her own body

and has access to the health care that allows her to do that. that means that texas leads on one of the defining health care issues of our day. we go from being one of the worst, one of the deadliest places to be a woman to one of the best in the country. it will take your leadership and mine coming together to get that done. thank you. supporting a women's right to choose. >> ryan has a question about reaching out to republicans. ryan. >> thank you, sir. i'm a proud democrat, republican co-workers, friends and families who are on the fence. i failed to convince them but maybe you can. what would you tell a moderate conservative to join team beto. >> first, i would share with them the son of a republican mother whom we have convinced to vote for me in this election. i know it can be done. i mentioned earlier anything of any confidence that i've been a part of i have done by reaching across the aisle compromising, finding consensus and moving forward. i've campaigned in every county

never discriminating based on party affiliation or who you voted for last time for president. every single month in el paso as a member of congress i hold an open town hall meeting. all comers welcome. i fear my constituents in a healthy way. they'll hold me accountable, keep me honest, bring the best ideas forward. if they're republicans or democrats or independents, i just want to make sure that i do a great job for them. that's what i want to do for you, for those folks that you're talking about. i want to make sure that every voice is heard, every single person is represented. your party affiliation doesn't matter in the slightest to me. thank you for asking. >> congressman, do you have any -- what's it like to deal with the other side of the aisle now? do you have, first of all, honest real friends on the other side of the aisle? republican congress people. >> yeah. last year i traveled across the country with congressman will herd though he's a republican,

i'm a democrat. our flights had been snowed in. we didn't know how we were going to get to d.c. we were able to find a way to rent a chevy impala and drive 36 hours cross-country live streaming 29 hours of it straight talking not just about policy, although that was helpful, but also developing a real friendship and bond. allegheny college which bestows the civility prize every year awarded it to ruth bader beginsberg and john mccain and this year presented it to the two of us. perhaps because we can serve as an example. when we got to d.c. each of us joined the other's legislation. he wrote a bill that helps service members transition into law enforcement careers in their communities. i had written an immigration that i desperately needed republican support on if we were going to have any chance of moving it forward. both of us were able to trust one another. we knew that our first priority

was not to defeat the other, make them look bad. that trust is the basis of any productive relationship. so i'd love to see more of that in d.c. and build more relationships like that one. >> good for you. don't go anywhere. we have more coming back with senate candidate beto o'rourke. university of houston. ♪ ♪ when my hot water heater failed, she was pregnant, in-laws were coming, a little bit of water, it really- it rocked our world. i had no idea the amount of damage that water could do. we called usaa. and they greeted me as they always do. sergeant baker, how are you? they were on it. it was unbelievable. having insurance is something everyone needs, but having usaa- now that's a privilege. we're the baker's and we're usaa members for life. usaa. get your insurance quote today.

"look what she's accomplished... she authored the ban on assault weapons... pushed the desert protection act through congress, and steered billions of federal dollars to california projects such as subway construction and wildfire restoration." "she... played an important role in fighting off ...trump's efforts to kill the affordable care act." california news papers endorse dianne feinstein for us senate. california values senator dianne feinstein four years ago, we rejected marshall tuck and his billionaire backers

for superintendent of public instruction. but they're back. the corporate billionaires and their handpicked candidate, former wall street banker marshall tuck. tuck's billionaires have spent over $25 million distorting tony thurmond's outstanding record on education. all because they know tuck shares their agenda: diverting funds from our public schools into their corporate charter schools. the same agenda as trump and betsy devos. protect our public schools. say no, again, to marshall tuck. ♪ ♪ [ applause ]

welcome back to "hardball" live at the university of houston. this question is only serious to, well, ted cruz. ted cruz when he was at law school refused to study with anyone who didn't go to the following schools. if they hadn't gone to harvard, yale or princeton he wouldn't study with them at law school because they were below his i.q., i guess. you went to columbia. how do you like being treated as a safety school? what do you make of this guy? >> i was lucky to have gone there. grateful to my parents. had a work study job, student loans, grants. got a world class education but the best decision i ever made was to come back to texas after that and start a small business in el paso. ultimately the good fortune of meeting amy, my wife now for a little more than 13 years. >> you met her at columbia.

>> no, we met on a blind date in el paso before tindr and took her over the bridge to her sister city. had a margarita at the kentucky club and we just really hit it off and i tell that story to folks to kind of remind them of the bi-national nature of the u.s./mexico border. cities like those in el paso we're one community. it's beautiful. nothing to be ashamed of, defensive about or wall off. it's part of who we are. it's part of our story. >> question from erica. >> how invested are you of protecting the rights of lgbtq citizens even when the transgender rights are being questioned. >> very dedicated. co-sponsor of the equality act which ensures full civil rights. you may know this. others in texas may not, but in

this state though it is not okay, it is perfectly legal for you to be fired based on your sexual orientation. in this state though we have 30,000 kids in the foster care system, in child protective services until recently was so under funded and under manned that you had kids at cps offices sleeping under and on top of the desks. in texas by law you can be too gay to adopt one of those kids into your loving household. we need a senator that's going to stand up for the full civil rights of every single american regardless of who you love and what your sexual orientation is. grateful for the question and grateful for the opportunity for texas to stand up. >> we're going to be right back with more questions for the students at university of houston. oh, we've got ma tilda here. i thought you were done. ma tilda, your question please. >> good evening, congressman. i was just wondering, how many hours of sleep do you get per

night? >> we are averaging somewhere between four and six. as you all may know fueled by the fine food at what a burger. [ cheers and applause ] >> but you know what? driven -- driven by people by you, the example and the inspiration you provide. all of these amazing volunteers. all of these folks getting after it right now deciding the election of our lifetimes. i've never been more energized, more electrified and thrilled. thank you for being a big part of it. >> we'll be right back with the college tour at the university of houston. ♪ ♪ ♪

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[ cheers and applause ] welcome back to "the hardball tour." beto o'rourke is running in a real hot race for u.s. senate. the latest polling by nbc and wall street journal shows that a majority, 52% of people went to college and graduated are republicans and a majority of people, again, 52%, the people who didn't get to go to college and graduate, are republicans. now what happened to that cultural, that class shift? when i was growing up the

democratic party was proudly the party of working people, the people that didn't get the breaks. now the democratic party seems to be reflective of people with educations, culture of elitism. what went sfwlong what needs to be corrected if it does? >> i think the influence of pacs, special interests, corporations has been profound and it has disconnected office holders, candidates from the people that they want to serve. i'll give you an example. >> they pander to the rich? >> exactly. i'll give you an example. we were in silverton, texas. 50% does not have access to broadband internet. before i could finish this gentleman stands up and says, i'm old enough to remember being in first grade in 1938 when lyndon baines johnson and franklin delano roosevelt announced they were going to electrify our community through the rural electrification. they wanted me to read by

electric light like the big kids could in cities. you better believe every day after that my dad was a yellow dog democrat. in other words, democrats used to show up for us in rural communities. they used to invest in people in communities, in our day-to-day lives. i think there are too many who are too beholden to the special interests right now. we've got to return to people. >> well said. let's go to andrew. first question. >> good evening, congressman. what i want to know from you is what do you think about celebrities who are talking about politics lately like how queen, taylor swift talked about how people should be voting and how she supported phil in tennessee? >> great thing about democracy, everyone gets to participate. everyone has a voice here. the challenge for us in texas is we rank 50th out of 50 states in voter turnout. not by accident, not by design. this is on purpose. this is some people being drawn out of congressional districts.

the court said four times last year solely based on their race, on their ethnicity, we're the most gerrymandered state in the union. we have to change that. we have to change the system. we've got to win these elections. transcending the barriers, reaching out to everyone through whatever means possible is the way to do this. for me it's showing up everywhere. i'm not as concerned about what the celebrities think. i'm concerned about what you think and that's why this is our second or third visit to the university of houston so far. want to be where the action is, where those who are going to decide the election and the future of this country are. thank you for being here. >> appreciate it. we're out of time. congressman, thank you. u.s. congressman beto o'rourke and to everyone at the university of houston, thank you! >> thank you! >> chris hayes starts right now. ♪ ♪

tonight on "all in." >> the word nationalism has taken this connotation of fueling anti-semitism, hate, violence. >> protesters greet president trump at the scene of a hate crime as he keeps feeding fear to his base. >> i look at two things, globalists and nationalists. >> tonight, seven days out, how democrats are answering the president's toxic finish. then -- >> that's what we've got to restore is western civilization for the world, tucker. >> sounds fair to me. >> why even national republicans are rejecting congressman steve king citing the need to stand up against white supremacy.