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Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke launches 'college tour' at UT Austin

O'Rourke says the tour serves as an opportunity for young people, including students, to get registered to vote before the Oct. 11 registration deadline.

AUSTIN, Texas — Beto O'Rourke launched his "College Tour" across Texas at the University of Texas at Austin Monday morning. 

The Democratic candidate for governor kicked off the event at UT's LBJ Presidential Library at 10 a.m. O'Rourke says the tour serves as an opportunity for young people, including students, to get registered to vote before the Oct. 11 registration deadline.

"Young people, students like those who are here right now, are literally going to decide the outcome of this election," O'Rourke said at the tour launch Monday. "Polls have been up, polls have been down. They're going to continue to change, and I think they're going to continue to get closer as we get to early voting on Oct. 24."

O'Rourke's campaign said at Monday morning's event, 89 people registered to vote.

The new "Texas Decides" poll – a joint effort between the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation (THPF) and TEGNA Texas stations KVUE, KHOU, KENS and WFAA – found that in the race for Texas governor, Republican incumbent Greg Abbott leads O’Rourke by seven points (51% to 44%) among likely voters. See more poll results.

THPF CEO Jason Villalba echoed O'Rourke's sentiments about how important young voters would be for him to win. 

RELATED: KVUE poll reveals who voters want to see in the top Texas races

"While O’Rourke has shown himself to be a worthy and hardworking adversary, unless there is a marked shift in the composition of the November electorate, Gov. Abbott will remain the political and thought leader of Texas politics. Only new voters will be able to shift the tide," Villalba said.

Texans have until Oct. 11 to register to vote in the upcoming election. Early voting runs from Oct. 24 through Nov. 4. Election Day is Nov. 8.

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