Former Democratic Representative and Texas Senate Candidate, Beto O’Rourke, has announced that he will be running for president in 2020. O’Rourke is expected to make an official announcement later in the week. The former Congressman joins an increasing list of possible candidates who have expressed their interest on running for the White House in the Democratic Party.
It was largely expected though that O’Rourke would enter the 2020 race. However, unlike many other Democrats, he took his time before making the announcement. He has also done well to avoid interest from the media. O’Rourke has made various trips across the US since he narrowly lost the race for the Senate in Texas to Ted Cruz.
In an ad that’s currently running on Facebook, O’Rourke says that a lot of “communities across the United States” have been reaching out to him asking if he intends to run. He also says in the video that he and his wife Amy have decided to take on other candidates for the Democratic ticket. If he wins the primaries, O’Rourke will likely face off with current president Donald Trump in what promises to be an intriguing race.
O’Rourke drew national attention recently after he organized a large rally in the streets of El Paso last month. The march ran concurrently with a rally by the president across town. Trump was in El Paso to push for support in his efforts to secure funding for a wall along the southern border. O’Rourke, on the other hand, was leading the opposition for the wall in the same city. The march demonstrated that the former congressman has already managed to build quite a following in Texas, a state that has traditionally voted Republican over the last few decades.
His run for the Senate was also one of the most followed across the country. Even though he refused campaign donations from corporate PACs, O’Rourke was able to raise nearly $40 million in campaign funding. It was one of the highest amounts ever raised for a Senate run in recent history. However, after losing narrowly to Republican incumbent Ted Cruz, O’Rourke didn’t fade away from the public eye. He was invited by the Democratic Party to speak in Iowa and New Hampshire. This is often a customary move for potential Democratic presidential candidates. The move also fueled speculation that the former congressman was angling for a possible presidential run in 2020.
Beto O’Rourke is one of the toughest critics of president Trump. At one point during a campaign rally, he called on Congress to begin impeachment proceeding against the president. However, he has since backtracked on this position. Instead, the former congressman is urging Democrats in Congress to wait for the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Muller to conclude before making any moves. In his unsuccessful run for the Senate, Beto was able to attract support from younger voters in a big way. If he’s able to do the same at the national level, it could be a huge boost, especially in the Democratic primaries.
