--- title: Beto O'Rourke Announces He's Running for President description: The 46-year-old served three terms in the House of Representatives after defeating eight-term incumbent Silvestre Reye in the 2012 primary. canonical: https://time.com/5541574/beto-orourke-running-president-2020/ author: Abby Vesoulis article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-03-14T11:02:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T00:42:15.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Beto O'Rourke is Running for President og:description: The 46-year-old served three terms in the U.S. House, starting in 2013. og:url: https://time.com/5541574/beto-orourke-running-president-2020/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2277cb36c4cd775c/698944a0656a3f5894bd6936/beto-orourke-2020-presidential-run-decision-soon.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: beto-orourke-2020-presidential-run-decision-soon og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Beto O'Rourke is Running for President twitter:description: The 46-year-old served three terms in the U.S. House, starting in 2013. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2277cb36c4cd775c/698944a0656a3f5894bd6936/beto-orourke-2020-presidential-run-decision-soon.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Beto O'Rourke Announces He's Running for President > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=81c1c733-ae95-48bf-9d2c-737499965222&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Beto O'Rourke Announces He's Running for President [Watch (HLS stream): Beto O'Rourke Announces He's Running for President](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hj5xpFkW.m3u8) (3:28)  _Published 2019-03-14. Beto O’Rourke, the Texas Democrat who narrowly lost a U.S. Senate election to Ted Cruz in November, announced he was running for President in a video posted online on Thursday._  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:42 AM UTCPublished: Mar 14, 2019 11:02 AM UTC Beto O’Rourke, the Texas Democrat who narrowly lost a U.S. Senate election to Ted Cruz in November, announced he was running for President in a video posted online on Thursday.  by [Abby Vesoulis](https://time.com/author/abby-vesoulis/)  ## Abby Vesoulis Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:42 AM UTCPublished: Mar 14, 2019 11:02 AM UTC Beto O’Rourke, the Texas Democrat who narrowly lost a U.S. Senate election to Ted Cruz in November, announced he was running for President in a [video posted online](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-vWCVx7V5w) on Thursday. “I’m running to serve you as the next President of the United States of America,” he said. On the same day, O’Rourke embarked on a road trip across Iowa — an early and important caucus state — spanning three days and more than a dozen counties. “This is going to be a positive campaign that seeks to bring out the very best from every single one of us,” he said, shown in the video sitting beside his wife Amy. “That seeks to unite a very divided country.” The 46-year-old served three terms in the House of Representatives after defeating eight-term incumbent Silvestre Reyes in the 2012 Democratic primary. Before the upset, O’Rourke was an El Paso city councilman, member of a punk band and the founder of a small web and software company. He graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor’s degree in English literature. Along the campaign trail, O’Rourke will be competing against more seasoned politicians such as Sens. Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Elizabeth Warren. Former Vice President Joe Biden may also join the race. O’Rourke’s decision to run for President is not a surprise to those who have been following him. In late February, he [said](https://www.dallasnews.com/news/elections-2020/2019/02/27/sources-beto-orourke-wontchallenge-john-cornyn-senate-paving-way-presidential-bid) he and his wife had “made a decision about how we can best serve our country” and were “excited to share it with everyone soon.” Though, running for President was not the only path people thought he might take: some predicted he might try to run for the Senate again, this time against Republican John Cornyn. Others thought he might try join an existing ticket as a vice presidential running mate. Not all too dissimilar from former President Barack Obama, the Texan gained national name recognition relatively quickly. He raised an eye-popping [$80 million](https://www.texastribune.org/2018/12/07/Beto-ORourke-80-million-raised/) over the course of his 2018 campaign — more than double that of his Republican opponent, Sen. Ted Cruz. In that race, he campaigned on a platform that included increased background checks for gun sales, expanded Medicaid access and instituting congressional term limits. Cruz ultimately beat O’Rourke by [less than than 3%,](https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/texas-senate?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=7D023AC72CBE000DF03DE7C44E0088AD&gwt=pay) but the race was close in a state that hasn’t elected a [Democrat statewide since 1994.](https://www.apnews.com/677244cae2bf4c5b8311b2df445f8e5c) By comparison, Cruz won his last Senate election by [more than 15%](http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/state/TX/senate/) in 2012. He’s not without controversy, however. In 1998, O’Rourke was [arrested for crashing a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.](https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/17/politics/beto-orourke-funk-drive-2020/index.html) The charges were [dismissed](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/beto-orourke-dwi-episode-in-1998-included-car-crash-and-alleged-attempt-to-flee/2018/08/31/6fff5bb8-ad3a-11e8-8a0c-70b618c98d3c%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.8d47b0a28ed5) after he completed a court-ordered educational program. He’s emphatically apologized for the indiscretion since, calling it a “serious mistake for which there is no excuse” in an [August 2018 op-ed.](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Beto-ORourke-Texas-criminal-justice-reform-jail-13181472.php) But O’Rourke, a father of three, has also been criticized for the soul-searching journey he took after his 2018 loss. “Have been stuck lately. In and out of a funk,” he wrote in a [blog post](https://medium.com/@BetoORourke/a-lot-of-big-trucks-rolling-down-pancake-blvd-and-there-arent-any-sidewalks-699ca6bc7ce8) on Medium. “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. Not everybody thought his public musings would have been perceived the same had he not been a white male. “Imagine this,” [wrote](https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/17/politics/beto-orourke-funk-drive-2020/index.html) senior CNN political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson in January, “a 46-year-old former congresswoman and mother of three, who just lost a Senate bid to one of the most despised incumbents, sets off on a road trip adventure to clear her head. She instagrams part of her trip to the dentist. She gives a two-hour interview to The Washington _Post_ where she shows no real knowledge of policy. Like a first-year college student, she pontificates on whether the Constitution is still a thing that matters after all these many years,” she continued. Regardless of impressions, however, the odds have never been more stacked against him. When [TIME profiled O’Rourke in May 2018,](http://time.com/longform/beto-orourke-texas-democratic-senate-race/) a friend of his told TIME that “no one thought he could win” back in his first congressional race. “But he’ll out-work anyone,” that friend said. With a huge Democratic playing field and roughly 600 days until the 2020 election, now that claim will really be put to the test. ## Transcript [00:00] Emmy and I are happy to share with you that I'm [00:02] running to serve you as the next president of the [00:04] United States of America. This is a defining moment of [00:08] truth for this country and for every single one of us. [00:12] The challenges that we face right now, the inner [00:13] connected crisis in our economy, our democracy and [00:17] our climate have never been greater. And they will [00:19] either consume us They will afford us the greatest [00:22] opportunity to unleash the genius of the United States [00:25] of America. In other words, this moment of peril [00:29] produces perhaps the greatest moment of promise for [00:32] this country and for everyone inside of it. We can begin [00:35] by fixing our democracy, and ensuring that our [00:38] government works for everyone, and not just for [00:41] corporations. We can invest in the dignity of those who [00:44] work and those who seek to work. We can ensure that [00:48] every single American can see a doctor, and be well [00:51] enough to live to their full potential. And all of us, [00:54] wherever you live, can acknowledge that if immigration [00:57] is a problem, it's the best possible problem for this [01:00] country to have. And we should ensure that there are [01:02] lawful paths To work, to be with family, and to flee [01:07] persecution. We can listen to and lift up rural [01:11] America. We can work on real justice reform and [01:15] confront the hard truths of slavery, and segregation, [01:19] and suppression in these United States of America. We [01:23] can reassert our global leadership and end this [01:26] decades long wars. And be there for every woman and [01:30] man who is served in them. And perhaps, most [01:33] importantly of all, because our very existence depends [01:37] on it. We can unleash the ingenuity and creativity of [01:41] millions of Americans who want to ensure that we [01:44] squarely confront the challenge. of climate change [01:47] before it's too late. This is going to be a positive [01:51] campaign. It seeks to bring out the very best from [01:55] every single one of us, it seeks to unite A very divided [01:59] country. We saw the power of this in Texas where [02:03] people allowed no difference however great or [02:06] however small to stand between them and divide us. [02:09] Whether it was religion or gender or income or [02:13] geography, we put our labels and our differences [02:16] aside to come together for the only thing that matters [02:19] The future of this country and the generations that will [02:22] follow us. Over the coming days, I'm going to travel this [02:26] country and listen to those who I seek to serve, to [02:29] understand from your perspective how we can best [02:32] meet these challenges. On March 30th I will be back [02:35] here in El Paso, Texas, and I invite you to join us in a [02:39] kickoff for this campaign. But even if you can be here [02:43] on March 30th, I still want your help organizing where [02:47] you live, bringing in friends and family, and neighbors [02:50] to the greatest grass roots campaign this country has [02:54] ever seen. There's a lot more to come but I wanna [02:58] leave you with this. The only way for us to live [03:02] up to the promise of America is to give it our all and to [03:06] give it for all of us. We are truly now more than [03:10] ever the last great hope of Earth. At [03:14] this moment of maximum peril and maximum [03:17] potential, let's show ourselves and those who will [03:20] succeed us in this great country just who we are and [03:23] what we can do. 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