To the surprise of absolutely no one, Beto O’Rourke is running for president.
I am running to serve you as the next president. The challenges we face are the greatest in living memory. No one person can meet them on their own. Only this country can do that, and only if we build a movement that includes all of us. Say you’re in: https://t.co/EKLdkVET2u pic.twitter.com/lainXyvG2n
— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) March 14, 2019
O’Rourke ran a competitive Texas Senate race against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm election, organizing a grassroots campaign that raised nearly $80 million and catapulted him to the national spotlight.
But does he really have what it takes to be president?
If there’s one thing working in O’Rourke’s favor, it’s fundraising. During the 2018 midterm election, O’Rourke raised and spent about $79 million and lost to incumbent Ted Cruz by 2.6 percentage points in a state that hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.
However, history isn’t working on O’Rourke’s side.
O’Rourke, who represented Texas’s 16th Congressional District in the House of Representatives that includes El Paso, would be the first person since James Garfield to go from the House to the White House in 1880.
And what does Beto stand for? That’s a bit of a mystery. He hasn’t sponsored any major legislation while in the House, but has instead developed a cult-like following that’s included glowing media profiles and songs sung in his name. However, he likes to summarize his political platform in one word: compassion.
In the months leading up to his presidential announcement, O’Rourke stated that he opposed President Trump’s border wall, but went a step further and said even the existing walls should be torn down.
While O’Rourke supported so-called “Medicare for all” in the House as recently as 2017, during his Senate campaign, he refused to use those words specifically, instead pushing for “universal, guaranteed, high-quality health care for all.”
So, while O’Rourke has yet to distinguish himself in any substantive way from a growing field of Democratic candidates, he might just be famous, young, and polished enough to overcome the odds.
