


Beto O’Rourke, the former Texas Democratic congressman, onetime Senate candidate, and past presidential candidate, kept his powder dry Sunday on whether he’ll mount a campaign for Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) seat next year.
“I don’t know,” O’Rourke said on CNN’s State of the Union. “Right now, I’m holding these town halls all over the state of Texas, across the country to listen to people to bring them together and to channel our anger into action, registering people to vote, organizing with voters right now.”
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O’Rourke and other prominent Democrats, such as Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX), are mulling a run for the red-state seat that Democrats have sought to flip for over a decade. Colin Allred, an ex-congressman and former Biden official, launched his campaign earlier this month despite losing to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) last year by 8.5 points.
O’Rourke lost to Cruz in 2018 and Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) in a bid for governor in 2022. He also ran for president in the 2020 election.
Cornyn is facing a tough primary fight against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a more conservative Republican whom Democrats see as a weaker general election candidate.
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O’Rourke cited Allred and Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX) as examples of Lone Star State Democrats who’ve “defeated entrenched well-funded Republicans.”
“I’m very optimistic about Democrats’ opportunity in 2026,” he said. “In Trump’s last midterm in 2018, when I was running against Ted Cruz, not only did we come close to defeating the sitting senator, but 12 insurgent Democrats defeated 12 incumbent Republicans in the state House.”