- After an eight-month run, Beto O’Rourke has officially left the campaign trail.
- O’Rourke never had the numbers he needed to last in the race and he finally conceded.
- This is his second big political run failure after a Senate race last year where he also went through millions.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Former Representative from Texas, Beto O’Rourke bows out of the campaign for the Democratic candidacy and the 2020 Presidential election. Less than two weeks ago, O’Rourke submitted a post via the Medium website thanking all of those that supported him during his campaign run. This would officially end his bid for the presidency, but not before going through close to $14 million dollars since starting on his trail in March.
The Texan had never quite gained the momentum he needed from the beginning. He went about announcing his run before he even had a team in place. Most candidates have all their strategies laid out before that point. After that, he never took to the press, relying on social media platforms to boost his image and likeability. This was not overlooked by the public as it made him seem a bit shady when he would not tell reporters the location of his first speaking engagement.
“I decided to run for President because I believed that I could help bring a divided country together in common cause to confront the greatest set of challenges we’ve ever faced,” said O’Rourke in his Medium post. “ I also knew that the most fundamental of them is fear — the fear that Donald Trump wants us to feel about one another… especially when it runs counter to what is politically convenient or popular.”
His entire campaign was disorganized which is probably why he had no answers for reporters that asked him shortly after his announcement why he felt things didn’t work out. Either that, or he was continuing to dodge the press as he has since the beginning when it came to questions pertaining to him.
During the September debates, he spoke on gun control, emphasizing his proposal about the buyback of assault weapons.
“Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15, AK-47,” said O’ Rourke. “We’re not going to allow them to be used against our fellow Americans anymore.”
Those statements did not go over well with everyone. Even liberals felt his statements were too radical and gave the wrong impression about the Democratic party. Many felt that was the beginning of the end of his campaign for the presidency.
To bypass the second amendment and take away guns from all American citizens did not sit well with the public. The only thing left for the former representative to do was exit the race as his funding has dried up.
Rather than turn to the idea of public funding, the poll numbers coupled with no money left made the choice easy for O’Rourke. At this point, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren is slated to win the Democratic candidate spot with nomination election odds of +150.