Gov. Greg Abbott and former congressman Beto O’Rourke debated immigration, gun control, abortion and more at Texas’ first and only gubernatorial debate in Edinburg, Texas on Friday night.

The debate had no live audience before the event. O’Rourke claimed in a tweet that the 1,000 empty seats in the auditorium were “because Abbott refuses to face those he’s failed these last eight years.”

The Abbott campaign rebutted the claim, saying O’Rourke agreed to the conditions. However, O’Rourke’s campaign shared an email with The Texas Tribune revealing that the governor declined requests to change aspects of the debate — including the proposal for a live audience.

The issue of immigration kicked off the debate. While Abbott plans to continue the busing of migrants to other states and sanctuary cities, O’Rourke criticized the busing and Abbott’s other anti-immigration policies.

When asked how Abbott would alleviate the financial burden placed on communities by the monetary costs of his immigration laws, he blamed the “cause of disaster” on the Biden Administration and its failure to secure the border with its “open border policies that Beto would replicate.”

“Under the Biden Administration, we have more people coming across the border than ever in the history of our country,” Abbott said.

O’Rourke pointed out the economic implications of Abbott’s immigration policies, such as Operation Lone Star, a partnership between the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Texas Military Department that began in March 2021 to curb immigration and drug trafficking from the state’s Southern border. The initiative involves busing migrants to sanctuary cities or states.

“Texas has also bused over 7,900 migrants to our nation’s capital since April and over 2,200 migrants to New York City since August 5,” according to a Sep. press release from Gov. Abbott’s office. “Since last Wednesday, more than 300 migrants from Texas have arrived in Chicago. The busing mission is providing much-needed relief to our overwhelmed border communities.”

O’Rourke claimed that this initiative cost taxpayers $4 billion and amidst the program, the state ended up seeing “more encounters at our border.” O’Rourke blamed the “chaos” on Gov. Abbott and said the migrant buses “posed as stunts.”

“Busing was one of the ways of providing (border communities) relief and thus began the process of busing migrants to cities that self-identify as sanctuary cities,” Abbott said. “We will continue to have to move migrants because Joe Biden continues to allow more illegal immigrants to come into the state of Texas.”

The issue of state gun control and the mention of the Uvalde massacre called for both candidates to explain their positions on the decision to raise the age limit to buy an AR-15-style weapon.

Abbott said it is unconstitutional for a state to raise the age limit from 18 to 21, since a federal court ruling in Fort Worth.

“We need to get to the bottom of what is really ailing our communities, and that is the mental health that is leading people to engage in school shootings,” Abbott said. “Texas is already addressing that.”

In rebuttal, O’Rourke called for a change in the state’s gun control policy and said “the only person standing in our way is the governor of the state of Texas.” O’Rourke said that as governor, he would raise the minimum age of purchase to 21, incorporate a red flag law, and have universal background checks. Red flag laws allow people to petition the court to remove firearms from someone they deem dangerous or a risk, according to politifact. 

“The governor has done nothing except make it easier for people who should not have a firearm to carry them publicly,” O’Rourke said.

Abbott stated his support for the felony classification of lying on background checks, but said that he’s “still against red flag laws for the reason that it would deny a lawful Texas gun owner their constitutional right to due process.”

When discussing abortion, Abbott criticized O’Rourke’s pro-choice viewpoints, which support abortions at all terms. He pointed to the Alternatives to Abortion program funded by the state of Texas.

“(The state) provides living assistance, baby supplies … and we’ve increased funding for prenatal and postpartum care,” Abbott said.

O’Rourke said this election is about reproductive freedom and that he wants to return to the standard of Roe v. Wade.

“(Abbott) signed the most extreme abortion ban for America,” O’Rourke said. “No exception for rape, no exception for incest.”Abbott and O’Rourke also debated the electrical grid, where O’Rourke called out the failures of the state’s power grid in Winter Storm Uri. They also debated law enforcement and the high rate of teacher turnover in Texas and potential reasons for this: including low pay. A poll by Nexstar and Emerson College found O’Rourke trailing eight points behind Abbott as of Tuesday.