Beto O’Rourke is leading a march through El Paso, Texas, on Monday as President Trump holds a rally in the southern border city.
Following the march, the former Democratic congressman will speak at a “Celebration of El Paso” event at 7 p.m., the same time the Trump rally is scheduled to begin, the Texas Tribune reported.
Earlier in the day, O’Rourke is joining his successor, Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, for a conference that will “denounce” Trump’s campaign rally and “his fixation on a racist and useless border wall.”
The march and rally comes as O’Rourke, who lost in a closer-than-expected Senate race against incumbent Republican Ted Cruz, weighs entering the Democratic race to run for president in 2020.
“Monday we will welcome the president to one of the safest cities in the United States,” O’Rourke wrote in a blog post to Medium. “Safe not because of walls, and not in spite of the fact that we are a city of immigrants. Safe because we are a city of immigrants and because we treat each other with dignity and respect.”
Trump continues to push for $5.7 billion in border wall funding in the new budget that will need to be passed by Feb. 15 if the government is to avoid another partial shutdown.
