Beto O’Rourke Has Officially Declared He Will Not Be Running for Texas Governor
There's been a lot of talk lately about Matthew McConaughey possibly running for governor, and we kinda forgot about another young guy some Texans felt sure would throw his hat in the ring - Beto O'Rourke.
The former Democratic congressman and presidential hopeful had been rumored to be considering a run, but the Dallas Morning News now reports that O'Rourke has officially said "nope".
Speaking to the Lone Star Politics program hosted by the Dallas Morning News and NBC DFW, O'Rourke said he's not going to be running for governor, but will instead continue to focus on mobilizing voters through his Powered by the People PAC while teaching at UT and TSU. He's now recommending that either Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins or Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo run against current governor Greg Abbott in 2022.
O'Rourke found himself back in the news in February for helping organize efforts to perform wellness checks and get supplies to seniors during the winter storm. That added more fuel to the rumors that he was considering a gubernatorial run.
Lately, he's made headlines for being an outspoken critic of new Texas voting restriction bills and Senator Ted Cruz's recent visit to the U.S.-Mexico border. You may remember that O'Rourke ran against Cruz for his Senate seat in 2018. We all know how that turned out.
Beto's been on the receiving end of flack lately as well. Colorado Republican Representative Lauren Boebert appeared on Fox News recently to accuse O'Rourke of trying to "legislate evil" with calls for new gun control measures, and it seems like every other day we hear someone reference O'Rourke's famous "Hell yes, we're coming to take your AR-15" quote from a September 2019 Democratic debate.