Beto O’Rourke announced on Wednesday that he’s running for president, a report said.
El Paso’s KTSM said the former Texas congressman confirmed the news in a text message and plans to officially announce on Thursday.
“I’m really proud of what El Paso did and what El Paso represents. It’s a big part of why I’m running. This city is the best example of this country at its best,” the text said.
O’Rourke has been hinting at a presidential run for months.
During his failed bid to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz last fall, O’Rourke raised $80 million and built a national following in the Democratic party.
In a Vanity Fair article published Wednesday, O’Rourke said, “You can probably tell that I want to run. 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,” he is quoted as saying on the cover, which was shot by famed photographer Annie Liebovitz.
“Man, I’m just born to be in it.” Beto O’Rourke seemed to come from nowhere to the brink of a presidential candidacy—but he’s been on this journey for his whole life. O’Rourke spoke with Joe Hagan. Photographs by Annie Leibovitz. https://t.co/WhmQGZnbUg pic.twitter.com/a7DCoaZdtd
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) March 13, 2019
O’Rourke will face a crowded Democratic primary field.
Declared or likely candidates include Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Corey Booker of New Jersey, among others.
O’Rourke, a critic of President Donald Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policies, has been linked to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party in the mold of New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
He calls the 2020 presidential election “the fight of our lives as Americans, and as humans, I’d argue” in the article, adding that he wants “to do everything I humanly can for this country at this moment.”
Several reports said that O’Rourke’s volunteers from his Senate run had been contacted and urged to be ready to get back to work.
