Beto O’Rourke assembled an A+ debate performance against Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday evening, turning Texas’ high-voltage issues of immigration, gun rights and energy reliability into a referendum on the incumbent during the hour affair.

At the same time, O’Rourke didn’t score a knockout or game-changing moment that could harm Abbott’s high single-digit lead in the race for Texas governor.

What O’Rourke did do is put forward a substantive case for a different governing vision in still-red Texas. And he even cleverly deployed an argument on gun laws that could flare up in a future Republican presidential primary debate for Abbott.

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