With former Rep. Beto O’Rourke set to announce a bid for president Thursday, video clips and interview segments of him denying he was going to run made the rounds on social media Wednesday night.
The presumed 2020 contender said on multiple occasions that he would not run for president in 2020, citing the strain that a bruising 2018 Senate campaign had on his family.
“The answer is no,” The Texas Democrat said during an October CNN town hall. “… Our children are 11, they’re 10 and they’re 7 years old. We’ve told them we’re going to take these almost two years out of our life to run this race, and then we’re devoted and committed to being a family again. So that’s what we’re focused on.”
Following his 3-point loss to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, O’Rourke doubled down on the sentiment, noting again the strenuous nature of running for public office. In November, the former congressman again highlighted family as the reason for not wanting to throw his hat into the ring.
“I don’t want to do it. I will not do it. Amy and I are raising an 11-year-old, a 10-year-old, and a 7-year-old, and we spent the better part of the last two years not with each other, missing birthdays and anniversaries and time together,” O’Rourke said on CBS’ “60 Minutes.” “… Our family could not survive more.”
When pressed if that statement was “reversible,” O’Rourke said win or lose in his bid for Senate, he was “completely ruling that out.”
[Related: Text confirmation?: Beto O’Rourke tells El Paso TV station he’s ‘running’]
Turn up the volume and listen to what Beto says here pic.twitter.com/jX2fz5KQ8h
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) March 14, 2019
The 46-year-old progressive lost to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in 2018 by a 3-point margin in the red state, prompting some to encourage the former congressman to reconsider and run for president.
Some Republicans are already worried about an O’Rourke run. The Club for Growth, a conservative group, began running TV attack ads against him this week.
An El Paso news station reported Wednesday night that O’Rourke would indeed be running for president. Later that night, a source told Reuters that O’Rourke would make the announcement 7:30 a.m. on Thursday.
