Attendees and volunteers look over tshirts for sale while waiting for democrat gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke to arrive for a campaign stop at Wiley College Tuesday, October 4, 2022, in Marshall. (Les Hassell/News-Journal Photo)

MARSHALL — Change was the key word Tuesday as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke visited students and staff on the Wiley College campus.

“A lot of candidates like to get up here and tell you about what the other guy is doing wrong, but what I want to do is tell you what I’d like to change,” O’Rourke said.

Wiley College students and staff gathered at the student union Tuesday morning along with community members and local leaders to welcome O’Rourke back to Marshall for his second visit since announcing his candidacy against Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott.

The Wiley visit was part of his ongoing Texas College Campus Tour. During the event, O’Rourke outlined the wide range of issues he would like to address if elected governor, including gun violence, education, criminal justice and more.

He discussed the need to raise pay for teachers, limiting the need for educators to take on a second or third job to continue to teach. Additionally, O’Rourke said he is in favor of cancelling STAAR testing.

“I am for the children in these classrooms and the people who have dedicated their lives to educating them,” he said.

Addressing the recent mass shooting in Uvalde, O’Rourke said “no action has been taken to make sure that never again happens to our students here in Texas.”

O’Rourke outlined three ideas to address gun violence in the state, including raising the legal purchasing age for assault weapons from 18 to 21. Additionally, he said he would like to mandate universal background checks for firearm purchases, whether from a private seller or through a storefront.

Finally, O’Rourke advocated for the addition of red flag laws in Texas, which would allow police departments, after a thorough investigation, to seize firearms that they have proof are at risk of being used in violence against others or potentially used for self harm.

O’Rourke called for criminal justice reform in the state, pointing out the fact that Texas has the largest incarceration rate per capita of any other state in the country. He said one way he plans to address the issue is to legalize the use of recreational marijuana for adults as well as forgive arrests for non-violent drug offenses, especially those related to marijuana.

O’Rourke also said he advocates for more work to be done to assist non-violent criminals to transition from incarceration to freedom, including limiting road blocks for those who have done their time and worked to better their lives afterward.

“Criminal justice doesn’t end with marijuana legalization; it needs to go all the way down,” he said.

O’Rourke described Texans’ access to voting as the hardest in the country.

“When they make it hard to vote, they don’t do it to stop people who look like me,” he said, “It is to directly stop Black and brown people from voting in this state.”

He encouraged everyone in attendance at the Wiley event to register to vote in the November election and to encourage friends and family members to do the same.

O’Rourke also expressed his support for a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion, speaking out against the full abortion ban signed into law by Abbott.

“We cannot lose this election,” he said. “We have no other choice to win, and we can do that will all of your help.”

Early voting is Oct. 24 through Nov. 4, and Election Day is Nov. 8.