As much as Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-Texas, boasts on the campaign trail he has turned his "lifelong Republican" into voting for him, Melissa O'Rourke has voted in Democratic primaries since 2000 and once donated to then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in 2007, CNN reported.
"I am the son of a Republican mother who we have convinced to vote for me in this election," O'Rourke said on the stump this past weekend, per the report, using this tale as a way to convince Republicans in deep-red Texas to vote for a Democrat.
But, CNN reported, voting records show Melissa O'Rourke voted in Democratic primaries in 15 of the past 17 primaries in El Paso, Texas, because "that's the party that's going to win" locally, she told CNN.
Still, she claims to have voted for Republican presidents up until 2016, rejecting President Donald Trump, according to the report.
"The immigration, the wall, the rhetoric that's coming out, it's just so far right – t's just –there's no humanity," she told CNN.
Texas has open primaries, which means voters do not have to be registered in a specific party to vote. Some states require voters to be registered in a particular party to vote in a primary election.
Even Rep. Beto and Melissa O'Rourke have suggested claims of flipping a Republican is an embellishment, according to the report, citing a BuzzFeed News interview.
"I introduce my mom sometimes, and I kid her a little bit, like 'my mom's a lifelong Republican, but we got her to vote for us in this race,'" Rep. O'Rourke told BuzzFeed in August. "One day, she came up to me, and she said, 'You know, that's just not right: I would describe myself as an Independent now, not a Republican. Definitely not a Democrat.'"
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