Punk from El Paso joins the 2020 race
A young Texan who became the darling of Democrats, despite losing his biggest political battle to date, yesterday became the 15th member of his party to enter the 2020 presidential race.
Beto O’Rourke, a former skateboarding punk and software engineer, entered the field in fifth place, according to polls, in a testament to his youthful promise in a field led by septuagenarians and senators.
O’Rourke, 46, gave up his seat in the House of Representatives for his attempt to oust Ted Cruz from the Senate in last year’s midterm elections, coming within three points of the incumbent in a traditionally Republican state. Although unsuccessful, O’Rourke raised a record US$80 million, something he will aim to repeat on the national stage.
‘‘The only way for us to live up to the promise of America is to give it our all and to give it for all of us,’’ he said in a video announcing his campaign, filmed alongside his wife in their home in El Paso, Texas. ‘‘The interconnected crises in our economy, our democracy and our climate have never been greater. This moment of peril produces, perhaps, the greatest moment of promise for this country.’’
Though he was known in the House of Representatives as a centrist, O’Rourke embraced a progressive Left-wing platform to take on Cruz, a Republican bogeyman for the Left.
O’Rourke is fluent in Spanish and has quickly become a media darling, to the annoyance of some Democratic activists who believe he has not put in the work campaigning for causes such as universal healthcare or free university tuition.
After his Senate defeat he spent several weeks on a road trip across Texas, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico, which he recorded in an online journal.
‘‘Have been stuck lately. In and out of a funk,’’ he wrote in January. ‘‘Maybe if I get moving, on the road, meet people, learn about what’s going on where they live, have some adventure, go where I don’t know and I’m not known, it’ll clear my head, reset, I’ll think new thoughts, break out of the loops I’ve been stuck in.’’
O’Rourke’s career began as the bass player in the punk band Foss. In El Paso, he formed a software company, now run by his wife, Amy. They have three children. Although universally known as Beto, he was christened Robert and became known in childhood as Roberto, which was then shortened. His first elected office was to the El Paso city council in 2005.
In an interview with Vanity Fair yesterday he enthused about running for the White House.
‘‘You can probably tell that I want to run,’’ he said. ‘‘I do.
‘‘I think I’d be good at it. I want to be in it. Man, I’m just born to be in it, and want to do everything I humanly can for this country.’’
Joe Biden, 76, the former vicepresident who leads in the polls, has yet to confirm whether he will run.
O’Rourke has avoided some progressive issues such as free tuition. Yesterday he praised the ‘‘green new deal’’, an ambitious plan to end America’s dependency on fossil fuels, as the best thing he had seen on climate change, without committing to it.
‘‘He injects a lot of excitement but I also think he has a huge bar to meet – the expectations for him are so high that it’s going to be tough not to disappoint some people who are now seeing him through rose-coloured glasses,’’ Maria Cardona, a strategist who worked on presidential campaigns for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, said.
O’Rourke arrived in Iowa yesterday on a three-day trip to test whether he could convert the enthusiasm he had built in Texas to the national stage.
The state will hold the first contest between the presidential candidates in 11 months’ time.
US President Donald Trump appeared to have seen some coverage of O’Rourke’s candidacy. Asked for his reaction, Trump said he would take on whichever Democrat challenged him. ‘‘I think he’s got a lot of hand movement,’’ Trump added.
‘‘I’ve never seen so much hand movement. I said: Is he crazy or is that just the way he acts?’’ – The Times