Why your favorite candidate could lose: Beto O'Rourke

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Why your favorite candidate could lose: Beto O'Rourke

Former Democratic Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke gestures during a live interview with Oprah Winfrey on a Times Square stage at

AP Photo/Kathy Willens

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas).

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  • We're profiling the contenders and announced candidates for the 2020 presidential election, with a focus on their potential electoral liabilities.
  • Today's contender: Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who is mulling a campaign for president in 2020.
  • Among several potential liabilities is the Texas Democrat's indecisiveness about entering an already crowded field of candidates.

Former Democratic Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas is mulling a presidential bid in 2020. Should he decide to run, he'd find himself in an increasingly crowded field of candidates.

O'Rourke has considerable advantages over many of the other candidates, including a strong fundraising prowess and youthful appeal that garnered national attention during his failed campaign to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz during the 2018 midterm elections.

But like every 2020 candidate, O'Rourke is not without his flaws. Here are some reasons O'Rourke might not be able to pull off winning the nomination, should he formally jump into the race.

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The Democratic field is going to be very crowded.

The Democratic field is going to be very crowded.

There are already more than a dozen candidates either running or in the formal "exploratory" phase, ensuring that if O'Rourke does jump in, it will be into the middle of an already very crowded field.

A crowded field could create difficulties for fundraising, which to O'Rourke's credit, he showed a penchant for during his Senate campaign by bringing in large donation hauls.

The knives are already out for him.

The knives are already out for him.

O'Rourke was one of the very high-profile Democrats ahead of the 2020 election cycle. That means opposition research groups have already been hard at work looking to dig up dirt on him in any way they can.

During his time in Congress, O'Rourke had a fairly moderate voting record, which conservative political groups could use to highlight areas he has at times been less liberal and steer the Democratic base to sour on him.

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If he does run, he's showing up late.

If he does run, he's showing up late.

At least 11 Democratic candidates have already started their campaigns, all announcing before Republicans had jumped in at the same time in 2015.

Joining the 2020 race allows candidates to capitalize on some momentum and boost small dollar donations from the immediate hype.

But the later a candidate waits, the more ground and momentum they could be ceding to other eager Democrats already traversing the early primary states.

He's young.

He's young.

There have been a handful of presidents elected before they turn 50, but it is exceedingly rare. Meanwhile, the field of Democrats features a handful of older candidates with lengthier résumés.

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He's already been profiled by almost all the major magazines.

He's already been profiled by almost all the major magazines.

If you have read a profile of O'Rourke in a glossy magazine in the past year, you would have to be a lot more specific about which publication wrote it.

O'Rourke got the full treatment during his Senate race in 2018, becoming the subject of nearly a dozen magazine profiles in publications like Esquire, TIME, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, Politico, and more.

These profiles help elevate candidates on the national stage. When there are already so many on the books, it makes it unlikely he will get another.

He is fresh off a loss.

He is fresh off a loss.

O'Rourke narrowed the gap with incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2018 Texas Senate race. But he failed to unseat Cruz, who has typically been a very polarizing figure on the right.

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