Beto O’Rourke.Photo: Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty
Former U.S. CongressmanBeto O’Rourkeis running for governor of Texas, officially announcing his campaign in a video posted to social media Monday morning.
“I’m running for governor and I want to tell you why,” O’Rourke, 49, says in the new campaign video.
Rather than focusing on problems that impact everyday Texans, O’Rourke says the state’s current leadership is “focusing on the kind of extremist policies — around abortion, or permitless carry, or even in our schools — that really only divide us.”
Continuing, O’Rourke says, “it doesn’t have to be that way. And I know that together, we can get back to being big again.”
O’Rourke, an El Paso native and Texas' former 16th district representative, will run against Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022, in what’s expected to be a critical Democratic push to shift the state a little more blue.
In an earlier interview with PEOPLE, O’Rourke alluded to a potential gubernatorial campaign, saying, “One way or the other, I’m in for the distance for Texas. That might be as a candidate. But it might also be as a volunteer.”
O’Rourke — who toured in a punk band in college — served three terms in the House of Representatives before narrowly losing a high-profile Senate race in 2018 against Sen. Ted Cruz. Though he lost the race, his name recognition grew, and he launched a short-lived presidential bid in 2020.
Since his short-lived White House bid, O’Rourke has focused much of his energy on voting rights, teaching courses at the University of Texas on the subject and acting as a central figure pushing back against Republican efforts to change the state’s voting laws over the summer.
O’Rourke is not the only one Democrat eyed for a gubernatorial run in the Lone Star state.
Former housing secretary and fellow 2020 presidential candidate Julián Castro has also been asked about a future bid — but he hassaidit’s “very unlikely.”
Meanwhile actorMatthew McConaugheyhas openly teased a political run in Texas,tellingTheHollywood Reporter"it’s something I’ve given consideration."
source: people.com
