Beto v. Abbott heads into final turn as Texas election nears

The Texas governor's race is now approaching the final turn — and the candidates have headed to the airwaves to attack each other.

Driving the news: Election Day is exactly two months away.

State of play: Polls in the last month or so give Gov. Greg Abbott a six- to seven-point advantage over Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke.

Yes, but: Even as Dems face strong national headwinds in a down economy, the overturning of Roe v. Wade has boosted their base.

Still: The Republican voting base has been larger.

• In the March primary — before the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision — 1.95 million Republicans and 1.08 million Democrats turned out to vote, per Texas Secretary of State statistics.

The intrigue: Following an illness that sent him home to El Paso, O'Rourke has been back on the road, wrapping up a 49-day tour today with a stop in Lockhart.

• Abbott, meanwhile, appears to have had a lighter summer campaign schedule than during the thick of his contested primary.

By the numbers: Texans for Greg Abbott had just over $45 million in cash available at the end of June, per the latest campaign finance filings — Beto for Texas had $23.9 million in cash.

What's happening: The campaign is now being waged on the airwaves, as both candidates burn through the tens of millions of dollars they have raised to stir voters.

• Abbott is painting O'Rourke as a defunder of police — and has enlisted his wife, Cecilia, to narrate an ad about his family's personal story.

• O'Rourke is striking back with ads on abortion and women's rights.

Between the lines: Abbott is trying to turn out suburban men, to blunt potential losses among suburban women.

• O'Rourke is driving home his message among women — and, returning to a strategy that nearly led to a 2018 upset of incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, is holding rallies in rural areas of the state he has little hope of winning, as an effort to trim Abbott's vote-getting.

What we're watching: The candidates have agreed to meet for a debate Sept. 30 in the Rio Grande Valley.

• O'Rourke wants more debates — but this is the only one Abbott has agreed to, on a Friday night in competition with high school football.