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Beto O'Rourke Plans Rally To Counter Trump's Visit To Dallas

Rachel Zein and Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune
Beto O'Rourke and Donald Trump are planning rallies in the Dallas area on Oct. 17.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke is planning a counter-rally for President Donald Trump's reelection campaign stop in Dallas next week.

On the same evening — Oct. 17 — that Trump holds his rally at the American Airlines Center, O'Rourke will headline a "Rally Against Fear" at The Theatre at Grand Prairie, according to his campaign. The Trump rally is set to start at 7 p.m., while doors will open for O'Rourke's event at 6 p.m.

"We will not be defined by this president’s fear, his hate, or the differences between us that he tries to exploit but instead by a renewed sense of hope and a unified vision for the future of our country," O'Rourke said in a statement.

It is not the first time O'Rourke and Trump have gone head-to-head in Texas. O'Rourke led a counter-rally in February in his hometown of El Paso when Trump came to the city.

At the time, O'Rourke was not yet running for president. Still, the sizable counter-rally caught Trump's attention, and the president continued to mention the February face-off during a return trip to El Paso in August after a deadly shooting there.

The Texas Tribune provided this story.

Patrick Svitek is a reporter for the Texas Tribune. He previously worked for the Houston Chronicle's Austin bureau. He graduated in 2014 from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. He originally is from Fort Wayne, Indiana.