Failed presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke is mulling a bid for Texas governor after President Joe Biden reneged on his guarantee of placing O’Rourke in a gun control position during the 2020 campaign.
The Associated Press (AP) reported on O’Rourke’s considerations:
There’s no road trip, no soul searching. No beard or blogging. But Beto O’Rourke is making a political life decision again.
Three years after becoming Democrats’ breakout star out of Texas, and a year removed from crashing back to Earth in a short-lived presidential run, O’Rourke is again weighing another campaign — this time for governor.
O’Rourke’s decision to find a place in politics after losing badly in the Democrat primary race to Biden comes after he guaranteed O’Rourke would have influence on gun control initiatives.
“I want to make something clear, I’m going to guarantee you this is not the last you’ve seen of him,” Biden said in March of 2020 during a campaign rally in Dallas. “You’re going to take care of the gun problem with me. You’re going to be the one who leads this effort.”
“I’m counting on you. I’m counting on you,” Biden continued. “We need you badly. The state needs you, the country needs you. You’re the best.”
There is no timeline on O’Rourke’s decision, the AP reported, as he “only recently has been able to think more about running now that he’s finished teaching virtual classes at two Texas universities.”
The current state of political affairs in Texas is “a dark moment for Texas Democrats, even by the standards of a hapless 25 years of getting clobbered in statewide elections and steamrolled in the Legislature,” the AP admitted.
“For one, they are still wobbling after their massive expectations for a 2020 breakthrough flopped spectacularly,” the AP continued. “The party had hoped to flip the Texas House and O’Rourke led a massive campaign to do just that, but failed to give Democrats a single extra seat.”
If O’Rourke decides to challenge Gov. Greg Abbott (R), he will face a popular incumbent that has a 52 percent approval rating.