Beto O'Rourke's 'Lifelong Republican' Mom Voted In Dem Primaries Since 2000, Donated to Obama

On the campaign trail, Rep. Beto O'Rourke has cast his mother, Melissa O'Rourke, as a lifelong Republican. The Texas Democrat's comments serve a purpose: his Republican mother is the exact sort of voter he'll need to win over in order to defeat GOP Sen. Ted Cruz in the red state and become the first Democrat to win a Senate seat there for the first time since 1988.

[...]A copy of Melissa O'Rourke's voting record, which CNN's KFile requested from the El Paso County Elections Department, shows she's voted in Democratic primaries in 15 of the last 17 primary elections she has participated, including Democratic party primaries in 2000, 2008, 2012, and 2016 that included presidential primaries. She voted in the Republican Party primary just twice, in 2006 and 2010 midterms.

She attributed her current move away from the Republican Party to its rightward shift under President Donald Trump.

"The immigration, the wall, the rhetoric that's coming out. It's just so far right. It's just --there's no humanity," she said of the present-day GOP.

This year she's given $1500 to Democratic congressional candidate Veronica Escobar, who is running to replace her son. In 2007, she contributed $250 to Barack Obama's presidential campaign. In 2012, she donated $1000 to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and $250 to Ted Cruz's campaign for Senate. She also donated $125 to Republican Sen. John Cornyn in 2011, in addition to $250 to his joint fundraising committee, Cornyn Majority Committee.

In 1983, she donated $1000 to Ronald Coleman, a Democratic congressman from Texas. She donated another $200 to Coleman in 1990.