Former Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke announced Friday that he was ending his presidential campaign.
The former Texas senate candidate was initially considered a front-runner for his party’s presidential nomination, but saw his one-promising poll numbers quickly evaporate. (RELATED: Beto O’Rourke Says America Was ‘Founded On White Supremacy’)
Our campaign has always been about seeing clearly, speaking honestly, and acting decisively.
In that spirit: I am announcing that my service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee. https://t.co/8jrBPGuX4t
— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) November 1, 2019
“Our campaign has been about seeing clearly, speaking honestly and acting decisively in the best interests of America,” O’Rourke wrote in a Medium post. “Though it is difficult to accept, it is clear to me now that this campaign does not have the means to move forward successfully. My service to the country will not be as a candidate or as the nominee.”
O’Rourke captivated liberals and received glowing attention from the national media during his 2018 Texas senate run, where he fell just short of pulling a massive upset against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, a former leading presidential candidate himself.
The senate campaign propelled O’Rourke to the forefront of his party, and early polls indicated that his momentum would carry over to his presidential run. However, that hope was short lived as O’Rourke’s campaign quickly collapsed after several of his top aides departed the campaign in April.
The 47-year-old former congressman tried to regain his momentum by moving to the left. O’Rourke’s policy proposals included revoking tax-exemptions for churches and religious institutions that oppose same-sex marriages and mandatory buybacks for certain types of firearms, proposals that were condemned as fringe and unrealistic by other Democratic presidential candidates. (RELATED: Don’t Buy Into The Hype About Republicans Losing Texas)
However, O’Rourke expressed no regrets in his letter thanking supporters.
“He released the first comprehensive plan to confront climate change of any of the presidential candidates; we took the boldest approach to gun safety in American history; we confronted institutional, systemic racism and called out Donald Trump for his white supremacy,” O’Rourke wrote.