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Beto
O’Rourke
announces
2020
Democratic
presidential
bid
By
WILL
WEISSERT
APNews.com
AUSTIN,
Texas -
Former
Texas
Rep.
Beto
O’Rourke
announced
Thursday
that
he’ll
seek the
2020
Democratic
presidential
nomination,
ending
months
of
intense
speculation
over
whether
he’d try
to
translate
his
newfound
political
celebrity
into a
White
House
bid.
Until he
challenged
Republican
Sen. Ted
Cruz
last
year,
O’Rourke
was
little
known
outside
his
hometown
of El
Paso.
But the
Spanish-speaking
46-year-old
former
punk
rocker
became a
sensation
during a
campaign
that
used
grassroots
organizing
and
social
media
savvy to
mobilize
young
voters
and
minorities.
He got
within 3
percentage
points
of
upsetting
Cruz in
the
nation’s
largest
red
state —
and
shattered
fundraising
records
in the
process
—
immediately
fueling
chatter
that he
could
have
higher
ambitions.
Now
O’Rourke
must
prove
whether
the
energy
he
brought
to the
Texas
campaign
will
resonate
on a
much
larger
stage.
For all
the buzz
associated
with his
candidacy,
the
former
three-term
congressman
hasn’t
demonstrated
much
skill in
domestic
or
foreign
policy.
And, as
a white
man,
he’s
entering
a field
that has
been
celebrated
for its
diverse
roster
of women
and
people
of
color.
“This is
going to
be a
positive
campaign
that
seeks to
bring
out the
very
best
from
every
single
one of
us, that
seeks to
unite a
very
divided
country,”
O’Rourke
said in
a video
announcement
with his
wife on
a couch.
“We saw
the
power of
this in
Texas.”
Former
Texas
Rep.
Beto
O'Rourke
formally
announced
Thursday
that
he'll
seek the
Democratic
presidential
nomination,
ending
months
of
intense
speculation
over
whether
he'd try
to
translate
his
newfound
political
celebrity
into a
White
House
bid.
(March
14)
O’Rourke
joins a
large
and
unsettled
2020
field in
which
his
fundraising
prowess,
bipartisan
optimism,
southwestern
Texas
charm
and
anti-establishment
attitude
could
quickly
make him
a
political
force.
His lack
of
governing
experience
could
hurt,
but
President
Donald
Trump’s
rise
suggests
that the
U.S.
electorate
might
welcome
a
charismatic
outsider.
The
sports
and
entertainment
world
already
had its
eye on
O’Rourke
during
the
Senate
campaign:
NBA star
LeBron
James
wore an
O’Rourke
hat
after
video of
the
Texan
defending
NFL
players’
right to
protest
during
the
national
anthem
went
viral.
Beyonce,
a
Houston
native,
endorsed
O’Rourke.
And
he was
the only
presidential
prospect
interviewed
in
February
by Oprah
Winfrey,
who
appeared
genuinely
excited
about
the
prospect
of an
O’Rourke
White
House
run.
Should
he
parlay a
2018
Senate
defeat
into a
successful
2020
White
House
campaign,
O’Rourke
would be
the
first
U.S.
politician
to do so
since
Abraham
Lincoln
lost his
Senate
bid to
Stephen
Douglas
in
Illinois
in 1858,
then was
elected
president
two
years
later.
Democrats
have
long
dreamed
that a
booming
Hispanic
population
and
droves
of
Americans
moving
to Texas
from
elsewhere
could
turn the
nation’s
largest
red
state
blue and
transform
the
Electoral
College
by
making
the
Republican
path to
the
presidency
all but
impossible.
It
remains
to be
seen,
though,
whether
O’Rourke’s
home-state
appeal
could
truly
make
Texas
competitive.
Another
Texas
Democrat,
former
Obama
administration
housing
chief
Julian
Castro,
was
already
running.
Trump
has
repeatedly
blasted
the idea
of an
O’Rourke
presidential
try,
calling
him a
“flake”
and a
“total
lightweight”
and
joking,
“I
thought
you were
supposed
to win
before
you run
for
president.”
O’Rourke
visited
all 254
of
Texas’
counties
while
running
for
Senate
and
often
drew
larger-than-expected
crowds,
including
in
conservative
areas
that
Democrats
gave up
on
decades
ago.
It’s a
strategy
that
could
serve
him well
in Iowa,
which
kicks
off
presidential
voting
and
where
Cruz
campaigned
in all
99
counties
before
winning
its
caucus
during
the 2016
GOP
presidential
primary.
O’Rourke
is
scheduled
to visit
Iowa
later
Thursday
and has
three
full
days of
political
events
planned
there.
The
Texan’s
advisers
have
reached
out to
early-state
Democratic
officials
seeking
advice
for
potential
hires
and
strategy.
And, in
New
Hampshire,
home to
the
nation’s
first
primary,
an
O’Rourke
adviser
asked
for
guidance
on how
they
might
schedule
a
driving
tour
through
the
state
should
he
arrive
coming
from the
West —
indicating
that a
cross-country
trip of
sorts
might be
part of
a
campaign
rollout
plan.
Although
he isn’t
among
the
first
wave of
Democrats
to jump
into the
race,
O’Rourke
enters
with
strong
national
name
recognition.
Democratic
operatives
in
states
with
early
presidential
primaries,
including
South
Carolina
and
Nevada,
have
formed
Draft
Beto
groups
that
spent
months
fundraising,
lining
up
potential
O’Rourke
endorsements
and
building
campaign
infrastructure
until
their
candidate
was
ready.
A
onetime
guitarist
for an
El Paso
punk
band
called
Foss,
O’Rourke
boosted
his
already
considerable
nonpolitical
street
cred in
the
Senate
race
with a
viral
video
showing
him
skateboarding
across a
Whataburger
restaurant
parking
lot. His
trademark
black-and-white
“Beto
for
Senate”
signs
became
hipster
must-haves
last
year in
some
parts of
Seattle,
Los
Angeles
and
Brooklyn.
O’Rourke
refused
donations
from
outside
political
groups
and
shunned
pollsters
during
his
Senate
campaign
though
he’s not
completely
sworn
off
polling
for a
presidential
run. He
nonetheless
harnessed
growing
nationwide
popularity
to rake
in
$80-plus
million
during
the
Senate
bid,
including
a
staggering
$38
million
from
July to
September
2018
alone.
While
challenging
Cruz,
O’Rourke
insisted
that he
had no
interest
in
running
for
president,
vowing
to
quietly
return
to El
Paso
should
he lose.
But
during
his
election
night
concession
speech,
he let
rip the
kind of
casual
swearing
that
freckled
an
unorthodox
campaign,
declaring
to
supporters
on
national
television:
“All of
you,
showing
the
country
how you
do this,
I’m so
f---ing
proud of
you
guys,”
before
promising,
“We’ll
see you
down the
road.”
Other
2020
Democratic
hopefuls
have
promoted
their
extensive
legislative
records.
O’Rourke
passed
just
three
bills
during
his six
years in
Congress:
two
related
to
temporary
health
benefits
and
college
tuition
assistance
to
veterans
and one
renaming
El
Paso’s
federal
courthouse.
While
running
for
Senate,
he
offered
an
unapologetically
liberal
vision,
supporting
Trump’s
impeachment,
universal
health
care,
gun
control,
marijuana
decriminalization,
steep
federal
subsidies
for
prekindergarten
education
and
relaxed
immigration
policies.
But he’s
drawn
criticism
from
supporters
of
Vermont
Sen.
Bernie
Sanders’
2016
Democratic
presidential
campaign
who
worry
O’Rourke
is too
moderate
to
excite
Democrats’
liberal
base.
O’Rourke
has
shrugged
off such
complaints,
saying
he
doesn’t
know if
he’s
liberal
enough
to be
called a
“progressive”
and
doesn’t
much
care for
party
labels.
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