In a move reminiscent of a 2016 Florida challenge, a Texas Democrat announced his bid to contest Sen. Ted Cruz when his seat comes up for re-election in 2018.
U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, a punk rocker-turned-politician, has represented his district that includes the border city of El Paso, the city he grew up in, since 2013.

Unlike Cruz, O’Rourke claims that a fluid border between his hometown and Juarez, Mexico, has benefited both cities.
His announcement has been anticipated for some time now.
O’Rourke, 44, told the TexasTribune earlier this year that “It’s very likely that I will run for Senate in 2018.”
He said in an interview earlier this month that “I’m very moved to do it,”, adding that he’d already reached the “emotional decision” to make a challenge.
Last week his campaign announced that “On Friday, Beto O’Rourke has a big announcement to make.”
Friday is here, and in an email to his supporters with “Let’s go” as the subject, he wrote, “Today, in my hometown of El Paso, we made a big announcement: we’re launching our campaign for U.S. Senate against Ted Cruz.”
His message expressed a desire to turn away from the policies of the Trump administration and the ideals of his rival. He wrote:
There’s an opportunity to do better for Texas and better for this country. To move past the anxiety and fear, the walls and the refugee bans, and strongly and confidently work together on bringing this state and this country together on jobs, on improving our immigration laws, and on ensuring that we have a Senator working full time for Texas.
Now for the similarities to a 2016 Florida contest.
In 2018 Cruz, who was a 2016 candidate for the Republican nomination for president, will be finishing his first term in the U.S. Senate.
In 2016, Marco Rubio, who was a 2016 candidate for the Republican nomination for president, finished his first term in the U.S. Senate.
Cruz will be challenged by O’Rourke, a Democratic congressman who has held his seat since 2013.
Rubio was challenged by Rep. Patrick Murphy, a Democratic congressman who had held his seat since 2013.
Things didn’t turn out so well for Murphy. He only received 44.3 percent of the vote in a swing state against Rubio’s 52 percent.
And O’Rourke will challenge Cruz in the deep red state of Texas.
It’s been a few months since the Florida race, and today the name of Patrick Murphy is already being erased from Floridians’ memories.
Cruz isn’t taking anything for granted and wasted no time rising to the challenge.
A liberal Democrat is announcing a campaign today to try to turn TX blue.
Stand with us to #KeepTexasRed: https://t.co/EjzD0Wjgod #TXSen
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 31, 2017
I'm making my own political announcement today…. https://t.co/ca98Sa2X8y
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 31, 2017
It’s the honor of a lifetime to fight for 27 million Texans each day in the Senate.
Join the fight to #KeepTexasRed https://t.co/EjzD0Wjgod
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 31, 2017
Wake up right! Receive our free morning news blast HERE
DONATE TO BIZPAC REVIEW
Please help us! If you are fed up with letting radical big tech execs, phony fact-checkers, tyrannical liberals and a lying mainstream media have unprecedented power over your news please consider making a donation to BPR to help us fight them. Now is the time. Truth has never been more critical!
- ‘Act like a grownup’: Drunk driver sobs when she loses plea deal by coming 4 hours late to court - July 23, 2017
- ‘I would’ve fired her the day I met her’: Glenn Beck reveals more about Tomi Lahren mess - July 23, 2017
- Canadian thug beats 74-year-old cyclist bloody with a club in road rage fit– and they say US is more violent? - July 23, 2017
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.