Beto O'Rourke teases run for president against Trump as he announces '2020 decision made'
Former Texas congressman and his wife have made up their minds 'how we can best serve our country'
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Your support makes all the difference.Beto O’Rourke has decided whether to stage a 2020 presidential run, telling supporters in a statement that he was “excited to share it with everyone soon”.
The former Texas congressman said he and his wife, Amy, had “made a decision about how we can best serve our country”.
It was first reported by The Dallas Morning News and confirmed by an O’Rourke spokesman, who provided no further details.
Two sites, the Morning News and the Texas Tribune, cited sources as saying Mr O’Rourke’s 2020 campaign would not be a challenge to Republican John Cornyn in the Senate.
Mr O’Rourke sparked a surge of Democratic support when he nearly upset Ted Cruz in last November’s midterms, running the senator close in deeply conservative Texas.
He had insisted for a week that he planned to make up his mind on a 2020 run by the end of February.
Another candidate expected to run but still deciding, former vice president Joe Biden, said on Tuesday that his family supported him launching a White House bid and that he was “very close” to a decision.
Speaking to reporters in his native El Paso last week, Mr O’Rourke had raised the possibility that he might challenge Texas’ senior senator, Mr Cornyn, or that he could possibly seek the 2020 Democratic vice presidential nomination – presumably by being another presidential candidate’s running mate.
But advisers close to Mr O’Rourke have said for months that they did not see another Senate run as a viable option, leaving the door open for a presidential bid.
While Mr O’Rourke has continued to delay his decision, Democratic activists in states that hold early presidential voting contests, including Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina, have formed “Draft Beto” groups that have raised money and tried to line up would-be supporters.
Draft Beto announced Wednesday that it had creating a “Beto Alert”, which will generate notifications by email and text message once Mr O’Rourke makes his plans known, in order to “mobilise supporters right away”.
Additional reporting by AP
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