Beto O’Rourke began his presidential journey this week with some stumbles and jabs from fellow Democrats, part of a media frenzy worthy of a candidate with front-runner status.
A former congressman from El Paso, O’Rourke, 46, gained a national following with an active social media presence and raised an impressive $80 million during a Senate campaign against incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. He lost but exceeded expectations in the Red state.
With speculation reaching a fever pitch after his infamous post-midterms road trip, O’Rourke announced his presidential campaign and started it by traveling this weekend to the first-in-the-nation caucus state, Iowa.
However, despite all the pomp and circumstance, his grand introduction was marred by a comment he made just prior to joining the race, drawing swipes from fellow Democrats who have largely avoided hostilities against each other in the crowded Democratic primary, in a stark contrast to the heavily cut-throat Republican primary of 2016.
A Vanity Fair profile published Wednesday said that after his November loss, former President Barack Obama asked to speak to him. During that conversation, O’Rourke brought up the possibility of running for president. O’Rourke said he was “born to be in it” when discussing a presidential run.
That gave Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn, ammo on Sunday, when she said she was not “born to run” for president because she is a woman. “I wasn’t born to run for office, just because growing up in the ’70s, in the middle of the country, I don’t think many people thought a girl could be president,” Klobuchar said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” She prefaced the remark by saying she “has a lot of respect for Beto.”
Another 2020 candidate, Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., contrasted himself with O’Rourke on Sunday, saying, “I was born to make myself useful.” Buttigieg also highlighted his years of executive experience running a small city one day after he cleared the bar to participate in Democratic presidential debates.
O’Rourke’s “born to run” comment compounded what critics say represents his ignorance of benefiting from white male privilege. Talking to reporters Sunday in Wisconsin, O’Rourke sought to explain the fuller context of the remark even as he admitted to instantly regretting it. “I was like, ‘Man, I hope I didn’t say that.’ … I think the context of that which makes sense is the way that I feel is that I’m born to serve, I’m born to try to help bring people together,” he said, according to NBC News.
Another gaffe that O’Rourke made early on was his joke about “sometimes” helping his wife raise their three children. The remark was swiftly criticized by those who argued female candidates couldn’t make similar comments about their involvement as a parent.
O’Rourke apologized for the remark. “As a white man who has had privileges that others could not depend on or take for granted, I’ve clearly had advantages over the course of my life,” O’Rourke said Saturday in Waterloo, Iowa.
O’Rourke also expressed regret for violent fiction he wrote when he was a teenager that detailed the murder of children. The writing was unearthed Friday in a Reuters report revealing O’Rourke was a member of a computer hacking group called the Cult of the Dead Cow and authored a series of works, including a poem about asking a cow to groom his private parts, under the name “Psychedelic Warlord.”
“I’m mortified to read it now, incredibly embarrassed, but I have to take ownership of my words,” he said in his apology. “Whatever my intention was as a teenager doesn’t matter, I have to look long and hard at my actions, at the language I have used, and I have to constantly try to do better.”
The 2020 Democratic field is a large one with roughly 16 people having announced campaigns. While some candidates have largely registered a blip on the political radar, O’Rourke has also been targeted by Republicans looking to defuse a potentially electric campaign early.
For instance, the Republican National Committee attacked O’Rourke for his 1998 drunken driving arrest on Sunday with a tweet even some Republicans found distasteful that linked the arrest to his Irish heritage.
President Trump also took aim at O’Rourke early, mocking his hand movements.
Unfazed by the criticism, O’Rourke told supporters Sunday there’s “nothing” else in his past that could damage him during the presidential campaign.
Later, a supporter asked if he’s ever taken the drug LSD, to which O’Rourke responded that he hadn’t. Another supporter asked if he’d “clean up his act,” a reference to his habit of using profanity during his Senate campaign not unlike Trump did in 2016. Upon conceding to Cruz, he said, “I’m so fucking proud of you guys” in a speech carried on national television.
On Sunday, O’Rourke promised “we’re going to keep it clean.”
Supporters of O’Rourke say his acknowledgment of missteps demonstrates a refreshing self-awareness that contrasts to Trump’s ‘deny everything’ approach for alleged misdeeds, including paying off porn actress Stormy Daniels to be quiet about an alleged affair.
His early stumbles have also not impacted his ability to raise money. O’Rourke raised more than $6 million online in the first 24 hours of his campaign, a record for 2020 Democratic candidates, narrowly beating Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vt., who raised $5.9 million in his campaign’s first day.
Another positive sign for O’Rourke can be found in polling. Even before he announced, O’Rourke enjoyed a relatively strong position, sixth place in a RealClearPolitics average of polls. There have yet to be any polls released that reflect the time after O’Rourke declared his candidacy, but he stands to jump a few places as Sanders saw a surge in support after he declared his second bid for president last month.
The biggest question, and potential buzzkill for O’Rourke, is whether former Vice President Joe Biden will run. Biden, 76, is leading polls in some key states, like Iowa and leads in nationwide polling, just ahead of Sanders. As recent reports indicated he was leaning into a third tilt at the White House, Biden appeared to get a little ahead of himself at a Democratic Party fundraising dinner in Delaware. “I have the most progressive record of anybody running for the United,” Biden said, before quickly walking it back, adding, ” … anybody who would run.”
Meanwhile, O’Rourke plans to formally kick off his campaign with a rally March 30 in El Paso
