DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - His staff says Beto O'Rourke plans to re-start his presidential campaign Thursday, August 15th, with a speech in his hometown of El Paso.
He has been there since the early August massacre that left 22 people dead. While he hasn't been actively campaigning, he has been seen on television, offering comfort to victims families and those wounded. SMU political scientist Cal Jillson says "you've got to very careful as a politician when you're dealing with tragedy because you can't appear to try to take advantage of it. You've got to deal with it directly in human terms, and he seemed to do that."
Jillson says most people think O'Rourke will talk about a path forward to the White House. "But many people still hope that he withdraws from the presidential race to run for the senate. While there are several people challenging John Cornyn, Beto would 'bigfoot' those people already in the race."
His campaign has brushed that off. They note for former congressman from El Paso has qualified for the next presidential debate, next month in Houston. Jillson says O'Rourke's focus thus far in his presidential bid has been the border and immigration reform. Now it could include gun reform as well