Free Republic

Sure, most of the 24 candidates running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination are really just vying for a place on the ticket as the vice presidential nominee, but one candidate has imploded so badly that he might not even be able to snag that dubious honor.

Beto O’Rourke just keeps running—not only toward the 2020 presidential race, but also by lacing up and pounding the pavement as a way to connect with the people. Back in March, the 2020 presidential hopeful ran a St. Patrick’s Day-themed 5K while campaigning in the Hawkeye state, finishing in 24:29, which earned him a third-place finish in his age group. This past week, he’s been running to raise awareness for LGBTQ+ issues. On Saturday, June 8, the 46-year-old ran in the 2019 Pride Fun Run 5K, which was part of the Pride Fest Weekend held in Des Moines, Iowa. He...

BEAUFORT, S.C. (AP) — Beto O’Rourke took a path somewhat less traveled on Friday, meeting with a small group representing a community of slave descendants in South Carolina as he strives to make connections with the black voters who will play a dominant role in next year’s Southern presidential primaries. In the community room of a Baptist church in Beaufort, a picturesque historic enclave on the state’s southern coast, the Democratic presidential candidate and former Texas congressman met with leaders of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, a culture of coastal slave descendants. Known as Gullah in the Carolinas and Geechee in Georgia...

A CNN ‘hypothetical’ poll published this week, shows O’Rourke, Biden, Sanders, Harris and Buttigieg beat Donald Trump head-to-head in 2020 election, should that election be held today. As soon as the poll was made public, Beto was seen at a campaign rally telling the crowd that he’s is the only one that can ‘hypothetically’ beat Donald Trump: “A new poll has us beating Trump by 10 points…It’s only possible because you’ve helped us run a grassroots campaign that stays on the road everyday to go everywhere and listen to everyone — not writing anyone off or taking anyone for granted....

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas), a 2020 presidential candidate, said that a "conversation" about reparations for the descendants of slaves should take place in "every community" and he committed to signing a bill to study the issue if Congress passed the legislation. O'Rourke was asked if he would support compensation for the descendants of slaves. In his answer, O'Rourke explained that he discussed the reparations issue with Bryan Stevenson, a civil rights lawyer and political activist. O'Rourke said Stevenson explained that he might not be able to have a "Truth in Conciliation Commission like you had in South Africa" and...

He truly is a Kennedy. I can't think of a more Kennedyesque response than the one that Robert Francis 'Bobby' O'Rourke just gave. The Democrat politician, who is the son-in-law of a billionaire, doesn't like giving to charity. But that's okay. He gave at the office. The political office. Is he sacrificing here or are we sacrificing? I would think that employing Bobby on the public dime so his billionaire father-in-law doesn't have to, would be our sacrifice. Clearly the lefty message about Americans subsidizing billionaires has a point when it comes to Bobby. Beto O'Rourke defended his meager rate...

Campaigning for president in Iowa, Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke thinks farmers need to do their "fair share" to combat global warming, handing over some of their crops to save the Earth. Kid you not. According to Breitbart News: Democrat 2020 presidential candidate Robert "Beto" O'Rourke proposed Friday in Iowa that the U.S. "allow" farmers to give up their "fair share" of crops to fight climate change. O'Rourke stood aloft as he proclaimed his message at a rally in Marshalltown, Iowa Friday: If we allow farmers to earn a profit in what they grow, if we allow them to contribute their...

(Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke) is once again taking aim at Benjamin Netanyahu, going so far as to label the conservative Israeli leader a “racist” who’s an obstacle to Mideast peace. Asked about the peace process while campaigning in Iowa City, Iowa, the former three-term congressman from Texas said that “the U.S.-Israel relationship is one of the most important relationships we have on the planet."But targeting Netanyahu, O’Rourke argued that if the U.S.-Israeli relation is to be successful going forward, “it must be able to transcend a prime minister who is racist as he warns of Arabs coming to the...

On Friday's edition of HBO's 'Real Time,' host Bill Maher said Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke looks "weak and ridiculous" for always apologizing. Maher called on O'Rourke to have a "Sister Souljah Moment" and call out the radical left and look like someone who can stand up and be the leader of the country. MAHER: I like him a lot... but he started off, the campaign, doing nothing but apologizing. I remember saying to him -- I'm not telling this out of school -- I said, you know, how about a Sister Souljah Moment where you stand up to the...

The official launch of former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke’s presidential campaign has been marked by a series of very bad new cycles, briefly interrupted by some quite positive ones. After disappearing for weeks on some sort of Simon and Garfunkle vision quest to explore his own feelings and find the Real America, O’Rourke decided that he was “born to run” for the presidency. And that’s when the oppo research started dropping. Some of it involved things we’d already learned during his Senate campaign, but those were mixed in with brand new and disturbing revelations.But that’s all behind him now....

If ever a single day of fundraising could make or break a candidate’s campaign, it’s this guy this year against this field.Team Beto knew it too. On Thursday morning, when he formally announced his candidacy, his campaign sent an email to supporters declaring, “What we raise in the first 24 hours will set the tone in the national conversation about the viability of our campaign.” That’s correct. If anything could instantly erase doubts about O’Rourke’s viability, a bombshell first-day number could. “The Senate campaign wasn’t a fluke,” people would say. “Those donors didn’t shower him with cash because they...

Beto O’Rourke apologized Friday night for writings the former Texas representative made as a teenager describing fantasies about running over children with a vehicle. “I’m mortified to read it now, incredibly embarrassed, but I have to take ownership of my words,” the Democratic presidential candidate said during a taping of the “Political Party Live” podcast in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “Whatever my intention was as a teenager doesn’t matter, I have to look long and hard at my actions, at the language I have used, and I have to constantly try to do better.” His comments come after a report Friday...

MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa — Beto O’Rourke said Friday that America’s capitalist economy is “racist,” while he praised a proposal to give infants so-called baby bonds to address systemic inequalities. Responding to a question at a meet-and-greet in Iowa about whether he is a socialist, O’Rourke reiterated that “I consider myself a capitalist” and said capitalism is necessary to meet myriad “historic challenges” facing the country. “It won’t be government intervention or policy alone that makes it possible,” he said. However, O’Rourke added at a coffee shop here, “Having said that, it is clearly an imperfect, unfair, unjust and racist capitalist...

Beto O’Rourke, the youthful Texan who gained a national following with his long-shot election battle against U.S. Senator Ted Cruz last year, on Thursday launched a bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.The 46-year-old O’Rourke, a former three-term U.S. congressman and a punk rocker in his youth, pledged to tackle “the interconnected crises in our economy, our democracy and our climate.” “This moment of peril produces, perhaps, the greatest moment of promise for this country,” he said in an online video.

Beto O'Rourke all but announced his 2020 presidential candidacy in a wide-ranging interview published Wednesday in Vanity Fair magazine, confidently saying he was "just born to do this" -- a move that would contradict his multiple previous assurances that he would not seek the White House, and further crowd a Democratic primary field already chock-full of progressive candidates. The move seemed inevitable Wednesday night. KTSM reported it received a text message from O'Rourke earlier in the day saying he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination, writing: "I'm really proud of what El Paso did and what El Paso represents. It's...

Could Politico have already reached peak Beto and is now on the downward slope from the zenith? Despite their own senior media Jack Shafer back in October begging "Stop the Press Before It Profiles Beto O’Rourke Again," the paeans to failed senate candidate Beto O'Rourke have continued unabated at Politico. However, that might have changed on Saturday when Politico writer David Siders expressed how irked he was with their beloved Beto appearing to be playing games as to whether he would announce his candidacy for president that he wrote that he "is now manufacturing suspense."

In a way, O'Rourke has all the problems Biden doesn't - and few of the deficits that Biden must address. O'Rourke, 46, can raise gobs of money online - and likely will when he enters the race. His Senate race showed he can generate wild enthusiasm among nonwhite voters and young people. He has a vision - healing America, listening to one another, embracing diversity. However, he will be in the spotlight from the get-go, and will have to answer three questions. First, is he going to run a national, professional campaign or try to wing it with a handful...

After a period of self-imposed exile, the former Democratic congressman returned to center stage Saturday as he ramps up for a potential 2020 presidential bid, appearing at South by Southwest for the premiere of a new documentary about his failed Senate campaign against Ted Cruz. It's been 10 days since O'Rourke said publicly that he's made a decision about his political future, but he told reporters on Saturday that he wanted to reveal "it the right way and tell everyone at the same time." [snip] Meanwhile, O'Rourke has lost some shine after taking fire from allies of Bernie Sanders on...

Beto O’Rourke and his advisers are sending strong signals that he’s on the brink of announcing a run for president, a move that would conclude a months-long period of public and private introspection and alter the complexion of the crowded 2020 Democratic primary field. O’Rourke’s possible candidacy has been one of the most widely anticipated, following the enthusiasm he generated in a failed run for U.S. Senate from Texas, to the frustration of other hopefuls in a formidable field who note that he’s a former three-term congressman who lost his only attempt to win statewide office. By design or accident,...

Former Texas Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke said Thursday that he would "absolutely" support tearing down existing barriers along the southern border with Mexico, in a full-throated embrace of open-borders rhetoric that has left conservatives wondering where other potential 2020 Democratic White House hopefuls stand on the issue. O'Rourke's comments came as the House and Senate passed a compromise spending bill that would partially fund President Trump's proposed border wall, to the tune of $1.4 billion. Trump, who had been pressing for billions more, has vowed to declare a national state of emergency to fund the remainder of the project. Amid...