Twice-failed Democratic political candidate Beto O’Rourke, who is 48, is apparently mulling over a run for the governor’s seat in Texas come 2022.
According to new reports, O’Rourke has not ruled out a gubernatorial bid next year, when GOP Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to seek another term in office.
O’Rourke himself has not taken any steps yet to indicate this is indeed his plan of action, an aide, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Associated Press that the failed presidential candidate has not ruled it out.
O’Rourke became a political celebrity, of sorts, among members of the Democratic Party when he challenged incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the 2018 election. Although he lost by about 200,000 votes, O’Rourke later received some flattering coverage, and decided to leverage his star by running in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
“Man, I’m just born to be in it.” Beto O’Rourke seemed to come from nowhere to the brink of a presidential candidacy—but he’s been on this journey for his whole life. O’Rourke spoke with Joe Hagan. Photographs by Annie Leibovitz. https://t.co/WhmQGZnbUg pic.twitter.com/a7DCoaZdtd
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) March 13, 2019
O’Rourke, famously, took a strong gun-control stand in the September 2019 Democratic primary debate, declaring “hell yes we are going to take your AR-15″ to a room full of applauding Democrats. “We’re not going to allow it to be used against our fellow Americans anymore,”he said.
He dropped out of the race about a month and a half later; some of his staffers had reportedly been looking for a way off the campaign for weeks. But now, members of the Texas Democratic Party want O’Rourke to run in 2022 — or at least make it known whether he plans to run for governor or not.
“I told him that I thought that we needed a strong candidate for governor and he certainly fit that mold, and that, in my opinion, if anybody could beat Abbott, he could beat him,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said, according to reports coming out of the Associated Press.
What’s really interesting about this potential run is that O’Rourke might have competition from actor Matthew McConaughey who has expressed strong interest in possibly giving the office a run himself. It seems he’s taking the possibility much more seriously than O’Rourke, having contacted individuals who could help make this happen.
It seems like O’Rourke is just wasting his time. Nobody was interested in his bid for the presidency, nor were they interested in him replacing Cruz. What makes him think this will be any different?
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