The 2022 governor’s race pitting Republican Gov. Greg Abbott against Democrat Beto O’Rourke is set to become the most expensive campaign in state history, surpassing the $125 million that O’Rouke and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz spent on their 2018 battle for the U.S. Senate.

Gov. Greg Abbott is portraying Democrat Beto O’Rourke as the enemy of the oil and gas industry, even as O’Rourke consistently tells audiences that he’s committed to helping those workers thrive.

For five consecutive days, Abbott’s re-election campaign has hammered O’Rourke in press releases for past statements and votes he made while in Congress, claiming that O’Rourke supports the Green New Deal and wants to ban hydraulic fracking for oil and natural gas.

O’Rourke says Abbott is distorting his record and misleading voters, voicing support for both renewable energy development and gas and oil production.

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The attacks and counter attacks over oil and gas — still the most important industry for the Texas economy with more than 422,000 workers and average salaries of over $100,000 a year — are a major theme in the governor’s race, with mail-in voting starting in just over a month.

Gov. Greg Abbott's campaign has been attacking Beto O'Rourke on his past statements on oil and gas and votes from when he was in Congress.

FRACKING: In 2015 O'Rourke voted against House Resolution 351 that would have sped up permitting of U.S. exports of liquified natural gas, a vote Abbott's campaign says shows he's against fracking.

O'Rourke says he voted against the measure because it didn't have the environmental protections he sought. He said he's supported fracking even when it wasn't politically popular and in 2018, voted for another Republican-led bill that did speed up permitting for LNG exports that come largely from fracking.

OFFSHORE DRILLING: O'Rourke voiced support for the Coastal and Marine Economies Protection Act during his 2020 presidential campaign, which would have halted new offshore oil drilling leases in the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf and Pacific Outer Continental Shelf, but not in the Gulf of Mexico.

Abbott's campaign says that shows O'Rourke is against offshore drilling, even though while in Congress O'Rourke voted against Democratic efforts to bar offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

FEDERAL LEASES: During his 2020 presidential campaign O'Rourke said he'd support a ban on new fossil fuel drilling leases on federal land. But such a ban would have had a limited impact on Texas because most of those federal lands are in the western United States. Almost all of the drilling is on private land in Texas.

GREEN NEW DEAL: During his presidential campaign O'Rourke said he supported the Green New Deal. O'Rourke says the energy plan he is now promoting supports oil and gas jobs while also seeking to expand renewable energy jobs.

On Thursday, Abbott, a Republican seeking a third term as governor, launched a new digital ad that was tailored to appeal to the state’s energy workers in which he touts making Texas “the energy capital of the world.” And on Friday, Abbott launched a new digital ad attacking O’Rourke for his past statements on the Green New Deal, the climate change legislation championed by progressives in Congress.

Abbott communications director Mark Miner says it’s O’Rourke who’s trying to mislead voters with his messaging during the campaign, while the policies O’Rourke has espoused in the past “would gut the Texas energy industry and destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs in the process.”

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O’Rourke, who served three terms in Congress, says none of that is accurate.

At campaign stops around Texas, O’Rourke often says that as long as the nation relies on oil and gas, he’ll defend those jobs in Texas, in addition to promoting the creation of more renewable energy jobs.

“We are proud of everyone here who works in the energy industry in Texas,” O’Rourke told energy workers during a town hall meeting in Galveston last week. “You have secured our energy independence from the rest of the world. I am grateful for the jobs that have come with that.”

But he said he’ll also be more aggressive in pursuing clean energy jobs. Texas is the No. 1 producer of wind energy in the nation — a fact both Abbott and O’Rourke frequently tout on the campaign trail.

“I will add to our hundreds of thousands of oil and gas jobs by pursuing the Texas labor movement’s aggressive clean energy jobs plan, which aims to create 1.1 million high-paying jobs over the next 25 years by investing in geothermal power generation, hydrogen-fueled energy, offshore wind, solar generation, energy efficiency, and more,” O’Rourke said.

Ironically, just three years ago, O’Rourke’s 2020 presidential campaign was tanking in part because other Democrats and environmentalists were blasting him for being too supportive of fossil fuels and for often siding with Republicans on big oil drilling votes in Congress.

Abbott’s attacks say O’Rourke wants to ban hydraulic fracking for oil and natural gas, and is against oil drilling in general. O’Rourke says neither is true.

On fracking, Abbott’s campaign points to a 2015 vote in Congress, when O’Rourke opposed House Resolution 351 that would have sped up permitting and expanded U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas that comes largely from fracking operations. O’Rourke at the time said he voted against that legislation because it didn’t include provisions for enhanced safety and environmental protections that he sought.

However, Abbott’s attacks ignore O’Rourke’s 2018 vote for a different bill — H.R. 4606 — to speed up natural gas exports with less regulation.

O’Rourke said he’s definitely not against fracking and jokes that if he had been, the time to make that case was in the race for the presidential nomination.

“If we're going to continue to provide for our energy needs, secure our energy independence, we’re going to have to rely on innovations like this one right here in Texas,” O’Rourke said as he talked about fracking on Thursday night during a campaign stop in Pflugerville outside Austin.

Abbott’s team also cites O’Rourke’s support for the Coastal and Marine Economies Protection Act during his 2020 presidential campaign. That measure would have blocked new offshore oil drilling in the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf and Pacific Outer Continental Shelf. While Abbott’s team says his vote shows O’Rourke wants to end all offshore drilling, the bill did not apply to drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

In fact, O’Rourke was blasted by the left for being one of just 22 Democrats in Congress to join with most Republicans in voting down a 2016 amendment that aimed to block offshore drilling in portions of the Gulf of Mexico.

Abbott’s camp also points to O’Rourke saying during his presidential campaign that he would support barring new fossil fuel drilling leases on federal land in a response to a debate question. But such a ban would have limited impact on Texas because most of those federal lands are in the western United States. The federal government owns more than 600 million acres, almost entirely concentrated in western states like Alaska, Utah and Nevada. Most of the drilling is on private land in Texas, where the federal government owns less than 2 percent of the total acreage, much of it in Big Bend National Park.

Abbott regularly reminds Texas voters of O’Rourke’s past statements of support for the Green New Deal, which seeks to end the nation’s use of fossil fuels by calling for 100 percent of the nation’s energy to come from clean, renewable, and zero-emission energy by 2030.

“I tell you what, I haven't seen anything better that addresses this singular crisis we face, a crisis that could, at its worst, lead to extinction,” O’Rourke said in 2019 during his campaign for president. “The Green New Deal does that. It ties it to the economy and acknowledges that all of the things are interconnected.”

In New Hampshire during his presidential campaign, O’Rourke was even more direct at Keene State University where he declared: “Yes, I support the Green New Deal.”

Abbott’s campaign says that support for the Green New Deal is a disqualifier for Texans who rely on the oil and gas industry.

Asked Thursday if he still supports the Green New Deal, O’Rourke sidestepped the question, saying his focus is on his own energy plan for Texas, which includes supporting oil and gas jobs in the state, but also expanding renewable energy to produce more jobs.

“There is no state that is better positioned to lead this country when it comes to energy production,” O’Rourke said, saying that means both oil and gas and clean energy. “Some folks want to offer a false choice of either or. It has to be every single one of these options.”

Jeremy Wallace has covered politics and campaigns for more than 20 years. Before joining the Hearst Texas newspapers in 2017 he covered government and politics for the Tampa Bay Times, The Miami Herald and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Previously he covered Congress for the Boston Globe and Detroit Free-Press. Originally from San Antonio, he attended the University of North Texas and earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Missouri. You can follow him on Twitter, @JeremySWallace, or email him at Jeremy.wallace@chron.com.

“It’s serious,” Payne said Saturday afternoon. "People are dying. People have died. We just want ... the environmental injustice to stop in our community."