HANOVER, N.H. — Beto O’Rourke pulled his wife Amy O’Rourke onto his presidential campaign trail in New Hampshire ahead of Mothers Day weekend, making her a feature at his events after his notable drop in presidential primary polls.
RealClearPolitics’ average of polls finds the former Texas congressman with 4.4% support in the primary field among Democratic voters, his lowest point since December after a peak of 9.5% at the beginning of April. A Monmouth University poll released Thursday found that he had 2% support among New Hampshire Democratic primary voters.
“Amy’s here to console me” about the drop in the polls, O’Rourke, 46, joked to reporters Thursday, before saying that she is on the campaign trail because she is “awesome.” His face brightened when he talked about her.
Amy O’Rourke, 37, is the daughter of prominent real estate tycoon Bill Sanders, whom Forbes estimated is worth around $500 million. She took over running O’Rourke’s El Paso web and software company when he joined Congress in 2013 until 2017, and now works at a nonprofit focused on improving El Paso public schools.
Through a jam-packed schedule of campaign stops, Amy sat or stood near O’Rourke as he gave speeches and answered questions. Attendees at O’Rourke events lined up to take photos not only with him, but with his wife.
“I have been chomping at the bit to get out here so I can join Beto and meet everyone who is stepping up at this incredibly important time,” Amy O’Rourke told attendees at a house party in Salem, N.H., Thursday evening.
Donna Doherty, a 58-year-old pet-sitting and photography business owner who drove from Ashburnham, Mass., to see O’Rourke in Salem, told the Washington Examiner that she watches videos of couple that they post online and felt lucky to get to meet her. Doherty called her “very warm and caring.”
Early in his campaign, O’Rourke faced criticism for saying that he “sometimes” helps his wife raise their three children, Ulysses, 12, Molly, 11, and Henry, 8. He later apologized for the comment.
At campaign stops heading into the weekend, O’Rourke invited attendees to ask questions not only of him, but of Amy.
Few attendees made public comments specifically to Amy, though one person in Salem thanked her for being “tough.” She chimed in on a question asked at a Hooksett, N.H. house party about universal preschool.
“Most [kindergarten], elementary, high school teachers are underpaid as it is, and then pre-K teachers are paid less than that. And it’s such critical work that we need to make sure that the best teachers are in pre-K classes and that we pay them like they’re the best,” Amy O’Rourke said.
He is not the only Democratic presidential candidate to feature his spouse on the campaign trail. South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s husband Chasten Buttigieg, for instance, has been a prominent figure in his campaign and on social media.
Katie Devins, a freshman at Dartmouth College who took a pictures with the O’Rourkes at a campaign stop on the campus Friday, told the Washington Examiner that she has noticed Chasten Buttigieg’s prominence and that other candidates could be seeking a boost in likability by featuring their spouse.
“So much of this election is about values, and you are reflected in the people who love you and who are willing to give up their jobs for you on the campaign trail,” Devins said. She said that Amy O’Rourke seems like a “cool lady,” but does not know much about her.
“It never hurts me” for Amy to answer questions or talk to supporters, O’Rourke told the Washington Examiner Friday. “I’ve just found her to be very well-received by those that she gets to meet with along the way.”
O’Rourke’s communications director, Chris Evans, told the Washington Examiner that Amy’s appearance in New Hampshire was more of a matter of scheduling than a reaction to a drop in poll performance. This was the first time that the couple’s schedules lined up and when their parents could take care of their children. The family also has many pets: a cat, two dogs, a snake, a gerbil, and a turtle.
Amy O’Rourke could be a surrogate for her husband at campaign stops in the future, a role that she filled during his Texas Senate bid in 2018.
Beto O’Rourke was outwardly unfazed by the drop in the polls, telling reporters Thursday that “there are a series of peaks and valleys for almost every major party candidate.”
He plans to secure the Democratic presidential nomination by doing the same thing he did during his Senate campaign, when he visited all 99 Texas counties: “Showing up everywhere,” O’Rourke said. “There’s no amount of money or magic message or single thing that you can do. It’s a series of conversations.”
