In this weekly series, I will focus on one potential Democratic candidate and analyze whether or not they would be a good candidate to face Trump.
The 2018 election has officially wrapped up and whispers of potential candidates to face President Trump in 2020 have begun to spread. Beto O’Rourke is one of those people.
O’Rourke made a name for himself as the Democratic candidate for Texas’ Senate seat, facing incumbent Senator Ted Cruz. In total, O’Rourke raised over $70 million for his Senate bid without taking a single dollar from corporations or Super PACs. He also amassed over 25,000 volunteers and, in a State where Ted Cruz won by 16 points in 2012, managed to close a huge gap, losing the race by only 3 points.
Beto denied he would run for the presidency in 2020, telling MSNBC just that before the midterm elections. Following his loss, O’Rourke walked back those claims in a conversation with TMZ.
He was recently invited to visit a local county party in Iowa, a state that is known as a “make-or-break” stop for Presidential campaigns. Potential or declare candidates tend to spend a lot of time in the state.
In a fractured Democratic Party, Beto’s policies are popular among progressives and moderates. He has the potential to heal the party and bring both sides together for 2020.
Some of Beto’s policy stances include ensuring that tax dollars only go to public schools, increasing environmental regulation and rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, enacting common sense gun safety laws like universal background checks and eliminating high capacity magazines, ending the government’s war on drugs, legalizing recreational marijuana and ending for-profit prisons.
On healthcare, Beto supports improving the Affordable Care Act by stabilizing insurance markets by creating a public option so all Americans are guaranteed affordable coverage. He’s also made it a priority to work towards a universal healthcare system.
O’Rourke supports policies that all Americans, regardless of political affiliation, support. He doesn’t accept donations from corporations or Super PACs and made it a staple of his campaign to get money out of politics. While serving as a representative in the House, he introduced the No PAC Act that would prohibit politicians from accepting donations from PACs. He’s also a staunch supporter of ending gerrymandering, eliminating redundant and outdated federal regulations and improving transparency and oversight of federal agencies.
Beto’s charisma and authenticity made him a nationally known figure during his Senate race. With policies that would benefit all Americans, Beto O’Rourke would be a fantastic candidate that is possibly the best chance of defeating President Trump in 2020.
Opinion Columnist Austin Elliott is a junior at Eastern Michigan University who writes weekly about potential candidates for 2020 and the overwhelming influence of money in our politics.
