Former Senate candidate and presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke (D) is reportedly considering making another bid for elected office.
The Associated Press reported on Monday that O’Rourke has “not ruled out challenging Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022 but has taken no formal steps toward a campaign, like calling donors or recruiting staff,” citing a top aide to O’Rourke.
If he did decide to run for governor, it would be the third consecutive election cycle where he ran for office. In 2018, he lost his Senate bid to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and in 2019 he launched a campaign for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination.
Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, O’Rourke urged President Joe Biden to visit the state as he claimed it could give Democrats a massive boost.
“If Joe Biden comes to Texas, and connects the dots for Latino voters, who have been on the front-lines of the cruelty of Donald Trump … for Joe Biden to come here, connect those dots, offer the alternative, would be so energizing, so catalytic for the voters of Texas — especially Latino voters,” he told MSNBC in October 2022.
He added, “This is Biden’s state to lose, and we’re doing our part in Texas. We would love to see Joe Biden come down here as well.”
In the end, Biden lost the state in the election to former President Donald Trump by more than 600,000 votes.
Democrats were also hopeful that they would pick up seats in the Texas House to win control of the chamber. However, they failed to pick up a seat in the election.
As the Associated Press notes, Democratic Party in Texas is “still wobbling after their massive expectations for a 2020 breakthrough flopped spectacularly.”
And as Republican lawmakers managed to hang out to their majority in the Texas House, they are working to pass conservative laws regarding guns, abortion, and teaching curriculums.
It has been 30 years since the state last elected a Democratic governor.