2018 Texas U.S. Senate Election

U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso and his wife Amy Sanders O'Rourke speaks to the local and national media at UTEP before the start of his final campaign rally before the midterm elections, Monday, November 5, 2018, in El Paso, Texas. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre for The Texas Tribune

Analysis: Beto O’Rourke’s out, but he still casts a shadow on the 2020 Texas elections

by Ross Ramsey

Beto O'Rourke's bid for the presidency failed. And he lost his 2018 bid for U.S. Senate. But he upended the status quo in Texas politics in ways that will play out in the 2020 elections.

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Presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke speaks to supporters at Tom Lee Park on Aug. 15, 2019, in El Paso.

Beto O'Rourke looks to reactivate suburban strength in Texas

by Patrick Svitek

After falling to third in recent Texas polls, the Democratic presidential candidates barnstorms the suburbs that help tell the story of his breakthrough 2018 U.S. Senate campaign.

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Presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke and Gina Ortiz-Jones, who has announced she's again running for Congressional District 23 against Republican incumbent Will Hurd.

After staying out of 2018 race to unseat Hurd, O'Rourke says he'll "very likely support" nominee this time

by Patrick Svitek

The former El Paso congressman angered some Democrats last year by taking a vow of neutrality in Texas' most competitive congressional contest.

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Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke speaks with reporters Sunday in Red Oak, Iowa on May 5, 2019.

Beto O'Rourke's impeachment rhetoric shifts as Mueller report sinks in

by Patrick Svitek

As a U.S. Senate candidate last year, O'Rourke didn't go out of his way to talk impeachment.

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Democratic nominee for the 31st Texas congressional district, MJ Hegar speaks to supporters and volunteers at an early vote rally at her field office in Austin, Texas on October 25, 2018

MJ Hegar, former congressional candidate, says she's running to challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn

by Patrick Svitek

Hegar, the former Air Force helicopter pilot who mounted a spirited challenge to U.S. Rep. John Carter in 2018, is running for the U.S. Senate next year.

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Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke speaks during a campaign stop at The Beancounter Coffeehouse & Drinkery in Burlington, Iowa on March 14, 2019.

In Iowa debut, Beto O'Rourke picks up where Senate campaign left off

by Patrick Svitek

The newly minted presidential candidate kicked off a three-day tour of Iowa on Thursday, shortly after making his 2020 bid official.

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Beto O'Rourke leads a counterprotest with thousands of other El Pasoans at the same time President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally on Feb. 11, 2019, in El Paso. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre

Beto O'Rourke running for president

by Patrick Svitek

The former Democratic congressman from El Paso is jumping into the crowded race to take on President Donald Trump after O'Rourke's closer-than-expected loss to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in November.

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Beto O'Rourke and his wife Amy Sanders O'Rourke walk onto the stage to address his supporters after losing to Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm elections, Tuesday, November 6, 2018, in El Paso, Texas.

Beto O'Rourke plans Iowa trip as 2020 announcement nears

by Patrick Svitek

The former El Paso congressman is expected to visit the critical early voting state to stump for a state legislative candidate.

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Former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke speaks at the El Pasoan of the Year ceremony in El Paso on Feb. 19, 2019.

Beto O'Rourke keeps up suspense with days until anticipated 2020 decision

by Patrick Svitek

The former congressman and U.S. Senate nominee is still hoping to make up his mind about the presidential race by the end of the month — which is nine days away.

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Oprah Winfrey with former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke at Winfrey's "SuperSoul Conversations from Times Square" at the PlayStation Theater in New York City on Feb. 5, 2019.

Beto O'Rourke says he's excited at the prospect of running for president. He'll decide this month.

by Patrick Svitek

O'Rourke, the former Democratic congressman and U.S. Senate candidate, discussed his 2020 deliberations Tuesday during an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

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US Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D- El Paso, thanks the crowd of supporters as he leaves the stage during the Turn Out For Texas Rally with Willie & Beto held at Auditorium Shores in Austin, Texas, on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2018. U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke is running against Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, in a one of the top U.S. Senate races nationally this year.

Beto O'Rourke ran his 2018 campaign on his own terms. He's looking at 2020 the same way.

Speculation is rampant about whether Beto O'Rourke is going to make a White House bid. But the former U.S. Senate candidate is offering little about his plans, keeping even close allies and supporters in suspense.

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U.S. Sen. John Cornyn speaks at the Texas State Rifle Association general meeting in Round Rock on Feb. 25, 2017.

Cornyn picks top Abbott operative to manage re-election campaign

by Patrick Svitek

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, announced Tuesday his 2020 campaign manager will be John Jackson, who led Gov. Greg Abbott's successful re-election bid last year.

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Democratic Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke speaks during a town hall meeting in Houston on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018.

Saying he's in a "funk," Beto O'Rourke hits the road amid 2020 speculation

by Patrick Svitek

The former Democratic congressman from El Paso, facing calls to run for president, says he's "been stuck lately" and hopes a road trip will help clear his mind.

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U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa.

Ted Cruz calls Steve King's comments on white supremacy "stupid"

by Patrick Svitek

Cruz did not go so far as to say he wouldn't lend future support to King, the Iowa congressman who played a central role in his 2016 presidential bid.

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Talk show host Oprah Winfrey and former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke.

Oprah to interview Beto O'Rourke in New York in February

by Patrick Svitek

Oprah Winfrey is set to sit down with Beto O'Rourke on Feb. 5 as part of a series of conversations she's holding in Times Square in New York City.

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Mike Collier, then-Democratic nominee for Texas comptroller, at the state Democratic convention in Dallas on June 27, 2014. Collier is running for lieutenant governor in 2018.

Analysis: Mike Collier lost, but outdid Beto O'Rourke in most Texas counties

by Ross Ramsey

Beto O'Rourke, the Texas Democrat who got most of the attention in this year's general election, got more votes than any other Democrat on the statewide ticket. But one of them out-performed O'Rourke in 171 counties.

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Analysis: A potential Texas shootout inside the 2020 presidential race

by Ross Ramsey

The faraway 2020 presidential election is already underway, and it's got a distinct Texas air to it, with Democratic Party rising stars Julián Castro of San Antonio and Beto O'Rourke of El Paso deciding whether to run.

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George H.W. Bush as a presidential candidate in 1979, left, and U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke during his campaign for U.S. Senate in 2018.

Analysis: Beto O’Rourke and the biggest no-experience-required job in America

by Ross Ramsey

The Texas congressman, fresh off a loss in a U.S. Senate race, is on almost everyone's list of potential Democratic presidential candidates. It's not his resume that put him on those hotlists.

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U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso (left), and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

Beto O'Rourke raised $80 million total for Ted Cruz challenge, left little in bank

by Patrick Svitek

Post-election campaign finance reports came out Thursday in the U.S. Senate race.

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Early voting inside the Memorial Student Center at Prairie View A&M University.

Texas saw the nation's sixth-highest voter turnout increase, but still lagged behind most other states

by Elbert Wang

Voter turnout in the 2018 Texas midterm elections increased by 18 percentage points compared with the previous midterms, according to data from the United States Elections Project.

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