TEXAS — Speculation has been rampant over the past year that former congressman and presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke will run as a Democratic candidate for governor of Texas.

On Monday morning, he made it official.

What You Need To Know

  • Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman from El Paso, Texas, on Monday morning announced his candidacy for governor of the state

  • O’Rourke in 2018 got close to unseating Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. O’Rourke was also a candidate for president in 2020

  • Texas Gov. Greg Abbott so far has a sizeable lead over his Republican primary challengers, setting up what could be a showdown between two of the most recognizable politicians in the state

  • “I’m running for governor. Together, we can push past the small and divisive politics that we see in Texas today — and get back to the big, bold vision that used to define Texas,” O’Rourke wrote in a social media post announcing his candidacy.

O’Rourke, who came within 3 points of upsetting Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, announced his challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott in a video posted to social media Monday.

“I’m running for governor. Together, we can push past the small and divisive politics that we see in Texas today — and get back to the big, bold vision that used to define Texas. A Texas big enough for all of us,” O’Rourke wrote.

Gov. Greg Abbott so far has a sizeable lead over his Republican challengers, according to recent polling, setting up what could be a clash between two of Texas’ most recognizable politicians.

Abbott’s campaign anticipated O’Rourke’s candidacy, in October releasing a video ad called “Wrong Way O’Rourke.” The animated ad suggests that if O’Rouke were to be elected, illegal immigration would be rampant, Texans’ firearms would be confiscated, the state would convert to a single-payer health care system and the former congressman would support the expensive Green New Deal.

Abbott's campaign reacted to O'Rourke's launch by comparing him to President Joe Biden, releasing an animated image of O'Rourke morphing into Biden.

"The last thing Texans need is President Biden’s radical liberal agenda coming to Texas under the guise of Beto O’Rourke," Abbott campaign spokesperson Mark Miner said in a statement Monday morning. "The contrast for the direction of Texas couldn’t be clearer."

In the video announcing his campaign, O'Rourke focused heavily on the grid failure, saying Texans were "abandoned by those who were elected to serve and look out for them." 

“Those in positions of public trust have stopped listening to, serving, paying attention to, and trusting the people of Texas, and so they’re not focused on the things that most of us actually agree on," O'Rourke said in his video announcement Monday. “Instead, they’re focusing on the kind of extremist policies that really only divide us and keep us apart, and stop us from working together on the truly big things that we want to achieve for one another.

“It’s a really small vision for such a big state, but it doesn’t have to be that way, and I know that together we can get back to being big again.," O'Rourke continued. 

O’Rourke burst on to the statewide political scene in 2018 with his challenge to Cruz, shattering fundraising records. He toured all of Texas’ 254 counties and gained national attention.

Months later, he entered the presidential contest, joining a crowded primary for the chance to take on then-President Donald Trump. His campaign struggled to gain ground and he eventually dropped out of the race and backed Biden. 

Since late 2020, he's been focused on his group Powered by People, working to elect Texas Democrats. Over the summer, O’Rourke became a leading figure in Texas Democrats’ push for federal voting rights legislation. The federal legislation has so far been unsuccessful and Texas Republicans passed a restrictive state law this summer.