There's little historical precedent for Beto to draw on. The last person to go from the House to the presidency was James Garfield in 1880.
During O’Rourke’s Senate race last year, Trump called him a “total lightweight,” and a former campaign assistant, Joey Torres, said O’Rourke himself once questioned the potential of a failed Senate candidate in a presidential campaign. While O’Rourke was running for his House seat in 2012 – and following the Republican presidential primary in the media that year – Torres recalled to POLITICO O’Rourke telling him of then-Sen.
Yet O’Rourke will enter the race at an organizational disadvantage to his more established rivals. His candidacy will immediately test the limits of a relatively inexperienced politician who has only run for office as an insurgent, not as a favorite, and who, despite his broad appeal, has at times befuddled the Democratic Party establishment and angered the most progressive edge of the Democratic Party’s base.
Asked in December if he is a progressive Democrat, O’Rourke told reporters, “I don’t know. I’m just, as you may have seen and heard over the course of the campaign, I’m not big on labels. I don’t get all fired up about party or classifying or defining people based on a label or a group. I’m for everyone.”
“I’m a little frightened by all these new, young Congress people and their audacity,” said George Appleby, a Des Moines-based attorney who has long been active in presidential campaigns in Iowa. “It seems to me we live in a really dangerous world.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
At first campaign event, Beto O'Rourke calls for unity to defeat Trump'We all have to get on board with the same person, because it is fundamental to our chances of success that we defeat Donald Trump in 2020,” he said.
Read more »
Beto O'Rourke on 2020 run: 'Man, I'm just born to be in it'Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke is 'just born to be in' the 2020 Presidential race, he told Vanity Fair in a report released Wednesday.
Read more »
'I'm just born to be in it,' Beto O'Rourke tells Vanity FairBeto O'Rourke said he feels called to run in 2020, according to a Vanity Fair profile. 'Man, I'm just born to be in it, and want to do everything I humanly can for this country at this moment,' the former Texas congressman said.
Read more »
Beto O'Rourke to seek Democratic U.S. presidential nomination: sourceBeto O'Rourke, the Texan who gained a national following with his long-shot...
Read more »
Beto announces bid for presidentThe untested but charismatic Democratic phenom joins the crowded race to take on Donald Trump.
Read more »
Democrat Beto O’Rourke Announces Candidacy for PresidentFormer Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke announced he is running for president, aiming to parlay his turn as one of the Democratic stars of the 2018 midterm elections and his online donor network into a run at the party’s nomination.
Read more »