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"This is a decisive moment of truth for this country and for all of us," said a 46-year-old former Texas Democrat MP in a video announcing his candidacy. "The challenges we face right now, the interconnected crises of our economy, our democracy and our climate have never been greater."
"They will consume us or offer us the greatest opportunity to unleash the genius of the United States of America," he added.
O 'Rourke, who begins Thursday a three-day swing in eastern Iowa, announced that he would hold a launch event for his campaign in El Paso, Texas, on Thursday. March 30th.
His entry into the race is the culmination of his two-year meteoric rise from a very unknown Congressman outside of El Paso to the Democratic celebrity as a record-breaking fundraiser, a topic that has come to the fore. an HBO documentary and target. two separate efforts to prepare him for the presidential campaign. He joins a group of over a dozen overcrowded Democrats who are vying for the party's investiture.
In his announcement video, O & # 39; Rourke announced that he would launch a "positive campaign that seeks to bring out the best of each of us, which seeks to unite a very divided country".
"We saw all the power of this phenomenon in Texas, where people did not allow any difference, no matter how small, to stay between them and divide us," said O & # Rourke.
O 'Rourke lost this year in Texas this year, an attempt to oust Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Nevertheless, the Senate race propelled O & # Rourke, who spent three terms in the House, in the spotlight. He broke fundraising records, finishing with a $ 80 million milestone, and finished with less than 3 percentage points behind Cruz – much closer than other Democrats had clashed in recent years against the Republicans in a state that had long been a bastion of the GOP. But a presidential bid will be a very different test for O & # Rourke, who will face serious pressure from the left for the first time in his political career.
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Mr. O. Rourke said the 2020 campaign "must focus on the great things we hope to achieve, embrace and do for each other".
He added that "the climate is the most urgent, the most urgent and the most urgent challenge, and scientists, without a shadow of a doubt, know that we have up to 12 years to adopt significant changes to this threat and to reduce the consequences of the decisions we made in the past – the consequences that our children and subsequent generations will bear. "
O & # 39; Rourke also began to expose what he saw as his top priorities on the eve of his entry into the 2020 race.
"Rewrite and sign into law immigration policies that reflect who we are and our values and what we know to be true, fact-based," he said. "Ensuring that everyone can see a doctor and live out his full potential Listen to and then bring up rural communities that have been so long neglected." Make sure that people looking for a Jobs are able to find it – We have the skills, training and education to maximize their potential, but we also invest in people who are already working (…) There are so many people in this country who have two or three jobs and are struggling to make ends meet. "
"The destination can not be the night of elections, in November 2020. The destination must really be the realization of all that this country is capable of doing," said O. Rourke.
In his run to the Senate against Cruz, O 'Rourke often scrambled the differences in their policies on issues such as trade saying the two were in agreement. And while O & # Rourke was taking a series of progressive positions – he advocated for criminal justice revisions and legalization of marijuana, supported "Medicare-for-all" and declared that he would support dismissal of President Donald Trump – the race was mainly a clash of personalities.
While O & # Rourke will have to prove his policy in good faith, his forces – he is a tireless campaigner who won the younger voters – will serve to test whether the Democratic base and its legions of young voters are more interested in personalities. inspiring. or candidates whose ideology matches theirs.
The entry of O 'Rourke into the presidential race is the culmination of his calls to explore a candidacy for a national president post launched after the end of his campaign for the Senate closer than expected of 2018.
Subsequently, Obama congratulated the Texan for his run to the Senate, calling him "an awesome young man who ran a fantastic race".
"What I liked the most about her race, is that she has not been constantly tested by the polls," Obama said at a check-in. podcast with former strategist David Axelrod. "It's as if he's basing his statements and his positions on what he believed, that's what you'd like to think, it's normally the way it's going to happen." Unfortunately, that's not the case . "
O 'Rourke refused to hire pollsters for his campaign in the Senate and used only a digital consulting company.
His national profile grew in August when NowThis posted a video of him answering a question about NFL players kneeling at the national anthem with an impromptu riff on the civil rights movement in defending players for defending their cause "non-violently, peacefully, while the eyes of this country look".
While speculation about a presidential race was built after its defeat in the Senate, closer than expected, some of them have died out in recent months.
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