HOUSTON — Supporters of Beto O’Rourke found solace where they could on Tuesday as the Texas Democrat did his best to find a breakthrough moment in the second presidential debate and resuscitate his flagging 2020 campaign.

Watching from a hip beer garden near downtown, some O’Rourke enthusiasts conceded that the former congressman’s White House bid has not matched the hype of an electric 2018 Senate campaign that raised tens of millions of dollars and came less than 3 percentage points of unseating Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas, that hasn’t voted Democratic for president since 1976.