Beto O’Rourke’s Fever Dream About a Blue Texas Still Burns
One of the constants in American politics is that both parties love to recycle candidates, no matter whether they’ve won or lost. I’ve often likened it to the head coaching ranks of the NFL, where one can milk a career out of a single so-so season. The unimaginative people in charge prioritize familiarity over originality. That’s how Joe Biden emerged as the Democratic nominee from a large, young, and diverse field for 2020.
It’s also the reason that Beto O’Rourke just won’t go away. The uncomfortably spastic former congressman has found yet another windmill to tilt at: the Texas governor’s office.
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) is reportedly weighing another bid for higher office — this time for Texas governor.
That the former Senate candidate and 2020 presidential contender is thinking about launching a challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott (R) was first reported on Monday by The Associated Press. There’s currently no timeline for a decision, and he has only begun to think about it recently, according to the news outlet.
If he does end up challenging Abbott, it would mark O’Rourke’s third consecutive election cycle seeking statewide or national elected office.
If Beto does decide to run, get ready for more nausea-inducing fawning over him from the mainstream media.
In recent years, there has been no quicker way to become a media sensation than to be anointed as the Democrat who is going to turn Texas blue.
At first it was Wendy Davis, who became famous for not going to the bathroom longer than any woman in history so she could filibuster in favor of killing babies. Her star was then eclipsed by Beto, who the media treated like the Second Coming of JFK. Both had enjoyed electoral success prior to becoming known nationwide.
Both are 0-4 in elections since experiencing The Great Anointing.
As the 2020 election cycle began heating up in 2019, no Democrat was getting more free publicity than O’Rourke. It seemed that every publication but Popular Mechanics did a glowing, in-depth profile on him. It looked like the nomination might be his for the taking.
He didn’t make to Thanksgiving. Even Kamala Harris was able to keep her failing campaign on life support for a month longer than O’Rourke’s. We all know what she’s doing know, which is further proof of my recycling theory.
Republicans should greatly encourage O’Rourke to fail again. He brings the out of state money flowing in. Thus far it’s done him no good, but it’s a boon for the national GOP because donors are throwing away money on Beto — and Davis before him — that could be spent on other Democratic candidates who actually have a chance of winning.
Along with the outside bucks, both Davis and Beto start an avalanche of “turn Texas blue” stories when they run. The press writes about it as if it were practically a fait accompli. Reality has not been so kind to them:
Democrats have sought to make gains in Texas in recent years, though their efforts have been dealt a series of setbacks. In 2020, former President Trump carried the state for a second time, while Democrats failed to make any gains down-ballot.
O’Rourke is one of those people who you can just tell spends too much time reading his own press. Worse yet, he believes it. He probably spends his days poring over the glowing coverage from early 2019 and skipping the part where he flamed out. The mere fact that he’s pondering this run shows that he’s not good at reading the room. It would be fun to watch a guy who in no uncertain terms said he wanted to take our guns try to get elected governor in a state that has done nothing but ease gun restrictions in recent years.
If Beto does say it’s a go, I’m off to Costco to buy all the popcorn.
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