Beto 2020? Democrats call for O'Rourke White House run
Some Democrats think the former Texas Senate candidate has the potential to take the primaries by storm.
Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke and former President Barack Obama reportedly met last month as the congressman mulls over a run for the White House in 2020.
The two met at Obama's offices in Washington D.C., on Nov. 16, according to a Tuesday report from The Washington Post.
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O'Rourke, who recently lost a Senate campaign to incumbent Republican Ted Cruz, initially said he would "not be a candidate for president in 2020," but changed his tune last week at a town hall in El Paso, telling reporters that his initial comment was made when winning the Senate race was "100 percent our focus."
Now, O'Rourke said, he and his wife are "thinking through a number of things" and have "made a decision not to rule anything out."
His reported meeting with Obama came just four days before the former president labeled O'Rourke "an impressive young man." Speaking to his former strategist, David Axelrod, Obama said the Texas politician appears to be running on a platform that he actually believes.
“What I oftentimes am looking for first and foremost is, ‘Do you seem to mean it? Are you in this thing because you have a strong set of convictions that you are willing to risk things for?'” Obama said, noting that O’Rourke struck him as that kind of person.
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And in addition to the president's praise, former Obama aides have reportedly compared O'Rourke to Obama — a young, liberal politician who rose through the ranks after establishing a grassroots movement.
A former senior adviser to O'Rourke told NBC News recently that many former Obama officials are saying: "If we can be helpful as you think about this, let us know. If you want our perspective on what it's like to run a national campaign, let us know."
And young Democrats don't appear to be pushing O'Rourke, whose House term ends Jan. 3, to the side.
New Hampshire's Young Democrats political group, as well as Iowa Democrats, last month invited O'Rourke to speak in their respective states.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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