The former congressman turned Democratic presidential candidate finds America a bigger challenge than Texas, where he narrowly lost a U.S. Senate race in 2018.
Beto O'Rourke and his three children watch as his wife, Amy, speaks as he officially launches his presidential campaign with a rally in El Paso on March 30.
O’Rourke has stopped joking about being an absentee father and regularly apologizing for benefiting from white male privilege. He has pushed back against assertions that he’s a blank slate who lacks experience and has added a “vision” section to his campaign website that includes many of his broad goals, including establishing a universal health-care system, increasing teacher pay, reducing the cost of higher education, reforming the criminal justice system and combating climate change.
“Well, I would put it differently,” O’Rourke said gently. “But, we’ve got our work cut out for us. Let’s be respectful of everyone.” While that sort of national exposure can help with fundraising and growing name recognition, O’Rourke’s campaign is hoping that his time is better spent personally meeting voters, who will then spread the word of his candidacy to their co-workers, relatives and friends. One aide noted that it’s easier to recruit a volunteer who has met the candidate than one who has simply seen him on television.
The campaign has announced state directors in Iowa and South Carolina, and it is expected to soon do so in New Hampshire and Nevada. In Iowa, O’Rourke now has 16 staffers, the Des Moines Register reported Wednesday, which is smaller than many Iowa teams, including that of former congressman John Delaney, who is far less known but has about 25 staffers in Iowa.
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