Seven important political beards of 2019

“As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affectation if I were to begin now?” he wrote in 1860.

No American president has worn a beard since Republican President Benjamin Harrison left office in 1893. And President William Howard Taft was the last president with facial hair during his 1909-13 term.

But beards adorning political faces are enjoying a resurgence near the third decade of the 21st century. Hopefully, the owners of the beards grown or that came into their own in 2019 had no such qualms about their facial fur.

• Beto O’Rourke: The former Senate candidate from Texas who flirted with facial hair after his 2018 loss to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz grew in a beard after he withdrew from the 2020 Democratic presidential race in early November. His beard’s progress was documented in his posts showing everyday activities on photo-sharing service Instagram, where the former congressman once livestreamed a dentist visit.

• Colin Kaepernick: The professional quarterback-turned-activist has long sported a beard in a variety of styles. The former 49ers player famous for kneeling during the national anthem, a protest criticized by Trump, applied for a trademark of a black-and-white image of himself, complete with full afro and beard, last year. In 2019, that portrait turned up on the backs of a special pair of Nike sneakers. The special edition kicks, which went on sale a few days before Christmas, sold out a day later.

• Joaquin Castro: The Texas congressman grew his beard to set himself apart, though not from the other bearded lawmakers in the halls of Congress. Instead, it was to avoid confusion with his twin brother, Julian, the Obama secretary of health and human services who is running for president.

“I hadn’t shaved in like three days, and I decided I’d just grow the beard back — and it does help so that people don’t always think that I’m running for president,” he said in July.

• Don Trump Jr.: The president’s oldest son had toyed with growing a beard before but followed his younger brother Eric’s late 2018 lead and debuted a full and lasting specimen in 2019. A beard seems to have been lucky for Trump Jr.: His first book, Triggered, hit the bestseller list in 2019. Its cover features a photo of the be-bearded author.

• Benjamin Hopper: In a first for the Nevada Army National Guard, Sgt. 1st Class Benjamin Hopper was allowed to keep a two-inch beard in keeping with his faith: Norse paganism. The 34-year-old could soon be joined by two other Norse pagans who have applied for religious waivers to keep their beards too. While mustaches and sideburns are allowed, though strictly regulated, in the U.S. military, Sikhs have an exemption for their facial hair — also an expression of their faith.

• Freshman congressmen: The latest class of congressmen who headed to the Capitol brought a few more beards with them. Republicans Dan Crenshaw of Texas and Greg Steube of Florida and Democrats Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, and Steven Horsford of Nevada, swelled the minority ranks of unshaven lawmakers.

(U.S. House of Representatives)

• Ted Cruz: The beard that likely caused the most conversation in 2019 political circles belonged to Cruz. Another late-2018 project, at which time it was widely criticized, Cruz’s beard came into its own in 2019, and he wore it throughout the year. While it may not have promoted peace in the Middle East, as the senator tweeted in January, Cruz helpfully put together a video on how to grow one’s own beard and even complimented fellow Texan and former rival O’Rourke’s face fur.