Everything you need to know about Beto O'Rourke ahead of ABC News' DemDebate in Houston: Full coverage begins TOMORROW at 7pm ET on or on all your favorite streaming devices.
Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-Texas, was virtually unknown until he challenged Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, last year for his seat in the Senate. Although O'Rourke lost, it was the closest any Democratic candidate has come in decades to winning a statewide election in the deeply conservative Lone Star state.Hometown: El Paso, TexasEducation: O'Rourke left his hometown to attend Woodberry Forest School -- a private, all-male boarding school in Virginia.
What he used to do: After he graduated boarding school, he interned on Capitol Hill for former Rep. Ronald Coleman, D-Texas. Then, when O'Rourke graduated from college he worked a series of odd jobs in New York: as an art mover, part-time nanny and at a small internet-service provider. He originally dreamed of being a writer and landed his first full-time position as a proofreader for the publisher H.W. Wilson Company.
In 2018, he gave up his House seat to run for the Senate. His run against the incumbent, Cruz, gained national attention but that notoriety did not translate to a win in Texas.O'Rourke, in April, unveiled a sweeping, $5 trillion plan to combat what he calls the"greatest threat" facing the United States today: climate change.
After revealing that he and his wife Amy are descendants of slave owners, O’Rourke vowed to continue to support reparations for slavery, though he did not explicitly commit to monetary compensation for African American slave descendants. He did, however, describe his commitment to close the U.S. racial wealth gap, if elected.O'Rourke raised $3.6 million in the second fundraising quarter. In the first 24 hours of his campaign, he recorded $6.1 million from 128,000 unique contributions.
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