Beto O'Rourke considering running for office in Texas, again. "Nothing is off the table."
Former Democratic Congressman Beto O'Rourke is back in the public eye, and he said he's considering running for office next year. He's been making the rounds, holding town hall meetings in North Texas and across the state.
O'Rourke, of El Paso, came close to defeating Senator Ted Cruz in the 2018 election. The Democrat ran unsuccessfully for president in 2020 and for governor of Texas in 2022.
During an Eye On Politics interview, CBS News Texas asked O'Rourke which office he is considering running for: Governor or U.S. Senator.
O'Rourke said, "This moment is bigger than a political office or a campaign, or any person, certainly myself included. There are a lot of folks in Texas who are really hurting right now. They're being hurt by this administration, whether it's cuts to the VA or proposed cuts to Medicaid. I really think there's power in bringing people together right now. Folks need to know that we're not isolated, that we're not alone."
During an interview earlier this spring, O'Rourke said he would not run for U.S. Senate in 2026, when Republican Senator John Cornyn is up for re-election. However, during a town hall meeting several weeks later in Denton, a member of the crowd asked him if he would run for Senate, and he said he would if the people of Texas wanted him to.
When asked what that meant O'Rourke said, "It means that if I am the right person to run for that seat, if I can do the most good for the people of Texas by actually winning and being able to serve them in that position of public trust, then that's something I should certainly look at. I do know that I'm nowhere close to understanding the answer to those questions. I don't think anyone can really unless they've gone out and listened to and been with and worked alongside the people that they want to serve and represent."
When asked what criteria he will use to base his decision on whether to run, O'Rourke said, "I don't have a spreadsheet, or a list, or a set of data points that I'm going to be looking at. As I continue to listen to people, which is the most important thing I think I can do, and travel the state, that will be incredibly clarifying for the path that I pursue. I'm really agnostic as to what that looks like. I don't need to be a candidate, I don't need to hold office, but I do need to help Texas, in this country, at this moment of truth. I'm going to do everything I possibly can, and I'm taking nothing off the table."
Watch Eye On Politics at 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning on CBS News Texas, on air and streaming on the CBS News app.
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