Playing The Waiting Game: Beto Is In No Rush To Decide His 2020 Move

By WILL WEISSERT

December 18, 2018 7:03 am

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — If the deep field of potential Democratic presidential contenders is on pins and needles as Beto O’Rourke decides his next move, it could be a long wait.

The outgoing Texas congressman’s team says he has no timeline or roadmap for deciding if he’d like to parlay a surprisingly close loss to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz into a White House try. People close to O’Rourke insist he hasn’t expanded staff or lined up consultants even as the interest in him intensifies. They say he’s spoken to top Democratic donors, but describe such discussions as fact-finding missions, researching the logistics of a possible run rather than securing assurances that coming campaign cash would go to him and not others.

The only big date on his calendar is Jan. 3, when he finishes his congressional term.
“There’s a lot of people waiting to see what he does,” said Texas Democratic strategist Colin Strother. “And a lot of them are going to continue to wait.”

O’Rourke’s approach is different from many of the other Democrats eyeing White House bids. Julian Castro, a fellow Texan and former Obama administration housing chief, launched a presidential exploratory committee ahead of a more formal campaign kickoff that’s expected on Jan. 12. Others, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey, have taken aggressive steps to lay the groundwork for potential campaigns that could be announced in the coming weeks.

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