O’Rourke says he ‘absolutely’ plans to stay in politics

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) made his first public remarks since ending his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination this week.

During a call with supporters Thursday night, the former Texas congressman said that he “absolutely” plans to stay involved in politics moving forward.

“Any of you out there who have run for office before and come up short — some part of you wants to go deep into a cave and never come out again,” he said during the call. “That’s a natural part of the reaction, but I don’t think you get that pass in a democracy.”

“This country is counting on all of us, and if any one of us fails to do our part to the best of our ability, then we will fail this country and the generations that follow that are counting on us,” he continued.

O’Rourke said even though he’s still figuring out what his next steps are, he vowed to help Democratic candidates across the country and to continue to address his signature issues such as gun violence.

“I’m going to do everything that I can, and what form that takes and in what capacity I don’t know,” he said. “But certainly it will involve supporting great candidates all over this country from school board trustee to the next nominee for the presidency of the Democratic Party.”

The former Texas congressman also once again thanked supporters and emphasized the need for Democrats to come together to defeat President Trump in 2020.

“All of us have to commit to get behind the nominee from this party to make sure that she or he is successful against Donald Trump and then to make sure that once they become president, they help to heal this very divided country,” he said. 

O’Rourke abruptly ended his presidential campaign last Friday, citing in a Medium post and an email to supporters that his campaign no longer had the financial means to stay afloat. Prior to ending his bid, the former Texas congressman had also been struggling in the polls, with less than 2 percent support, according to the RealClearPolitics polling index.