We are back again for another edition of the 2020 Candidate Profiles where I give an overview on US Presidential Candidates. Currently I am only releasing profiles on the more significant candidates who have dropped out of the race.
We have had two more Democrats drop out as of late, the first as can be seen is Beto O’ Rourke who rose to fame in his bid to unseat Ted Cruz in his Texas Senate seat in the 2018 Midterm Elections, despite not winning, but Beto clearly believed he was popular enough for an attempt at the Presidential run. But unfortunately for him he was unable to keep pace with many of the top Democratic runners and also often flip-flopped on any possible signiture policies, leaving him with no reliable solid ground and as well as that, just lacked the support, including not qualifying for further debates.
Beto has not yet announced if he will either make a different electoral run for 2020, some hope or believe he may announce a run for the 2020 Texas Senate election against the Republican incumbent Cornyn, but it is yet to be seen.
The 9th Democrat to drop out of the Presidential race is Tim Ryan, on 24th October 2019, although it got little coverage as he was not one of the top runners or as popular as a candidate such as Beto O’ Rourke, for this reason I will also not be doing a profile on him. He has though announced he will be running for re-election in his Ohio 17th Congressional District House seat in the 2020 elections. He was basically a candidate who was looking to capitilise off of the working class votes in the rustbelt states, a tactic he feels may have beaten Donald Trump, as they are the voters who played a major part in allowing him to win the 2016 Presidential election, by breaking the so-called “blue wall”.
In other US political news there were a number of state elections held in the US yesterday where the Democrats made significant gains, with the media dubbing it a big loss for Trump and a damper on his chances of re-election in 2020.
Basically, the Democrats flipped the Virginia state legislature entirely blue and they even managed to snatch the Governor race win in what is typically deep-red Kentucky. With Trump also having done a rally for his preffered candidate in this state, it is seen as a major blow to him.
In Mississppi which is often also deep-red, the Governor election was surprisingly close, which will again have Republicans worrying in 2020.
Anyway… on to the Candidate Profile…
Beto O’ Rourke – (Robert Francis O’ Rourke)
DoB: September 26th, 1972 in El Paso, Texas, US.
Education: Graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. (1995)
Positions
- Served as a Congressional intern for then US Congressman Ron Coleman.
- Was a member of the Committee on Armed Services including the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee and the Strategic Forces Subcommittee.
- Was a member of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs including the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs and the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
- Was a member of the New Democrat Coalition.
- Was a member of the Congressional Arts Caucus.
Other Notable Achievements
- Due to his interest in music Beto learned how to play the Bass Guitar and Drums. He along with friends did a number of gigs and released a record.
- Co-founded Stanton Street Technology Group in 1999, an internet services and software company.
- Allegheny College gave both O’Rourke and Will Hurd the 2018 Prize for Civility in Public Life.
Overview
The former House Representative for Texas’s 16th Congressional District, he went on to run for Senator for Texas in the 2018 Midterm elections in a hotly contested race against incumbent Republican Ted Cruz, but narrowly lost against him, but nonetheless he is the best performing Democrat in the attempt to get a Senate seat in Texas and is seen as a rising star in the Democrat Party.
Although some think he should have instead contested against Republican incumbent Cornyn in the Texas 2020 Senate race due to polls showing them neck and neck, he has instead decided to run for president, which was widely expected as he had already hinted at it after losing against Cruz in 2018. His campaign has a focus on immigration reform, drug/justice reform and social issues as well as a focus on gun control, especially after the El Paso mall shooting earlier this year. He dropped out of the race on 1st November 2019, being the 10th Democratic candidate to do so.
Political Career
Member of the El Paso City Council – 2005 – 2011
- Had a focus on downtown development and border reform.
- Supported turning a “depressed” area in El Paso into a business district that also included an arena, major retailers and an art’s walk. This move got both praise and cynicism, with small businesses not wanting to be out-competed in the area. He also had some ethics issues raised against him on this, over conflict of interest.
- In January 2009 Beto asked for a comprehensive look at the War on Drugs and also wanted to repeal ineffective marijuana laws, the resolution was vetoed by then Mayor, John Cook. Beto said he supported the resolution due to “thousands” who had been killed in the War on Drugs in the nearby Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez.
Federal Representative of Texas’s 16th Congressional District – 2013 – 2019
- In March 2013, O’Rourke and Republican Steve Pearce introduced the Border Enforcement Accountability, Oversight and Community Engagement Act, the legislation set out to create an ombudsman in the Department of Homeland Security, the position would investigate claims of civil rights abuse and violence by the US Customs and Border Protection. It also set out to create a commission to overview the agencies policies and provide insight on how to spend its annual budget, it would also increase training required for officers and agents and also establish protocols with which the agency would be required to report deaths over the use of force.
- Co-Sponsored the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, legislation that would allow the Customs and Border Protection Agency to enter into Public-Private Partnerships with local entities in an attempt to help fund overtime pay to officers at ports of entry to ultimately lower wait times at the borders.
- O’Rourke opposed Obama’s deferred action policy due to him using an executive order to bypass it through congress.
- In a controversial move O’Rourke voted against the funding of Iron Dome missile defence to Israel and also did not attend the Israeli Prime Minister’s address to Congress. He said although he was not against funding of the project, he was reluctant to support sending a large sum of money to Israel without first debating on it. He has also said that the US’s stance of unequivocal support to Israel had at times been damaging to Israel.
- Alongside Steve Pearce and Eric Swalwell, sponsored the American Families United Act, legislation that sought to give US citizens the right to sponsor their spouses for legal immigration.
- Voted against No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act and the Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act in 2017, the legislation had sought to permanently ban the usage of federal funds for abortions and reformed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to exempt abortion coverage from qualified health plans.
Other Political Activity/notes
- Supports LGBT Rights.
- Supports Liberalization of Drugs.
- O’Rourke supports implementing term limits to Congress, he also said that if he were to be elected to the Senate, he would have put a 12-year term limit on himself, also in this case he had supported Tim Ryan’s leadership challenge to Nancy Pelosi, saying that it was now time for new leadership.
- O’Rourke supports strengthening of anti-trust laws to break up monopolies saying that they prevent competition and innovation. Also supports business regulation that promotes competition, grows the economy and protects consumers.
- Wants to reform the justice system including working to eliminate private for-profit prisons, ending the War on Drugs, stoppage of using mandatory minimum sentencing for non-violent drug offenses, ending cash bail towards those that disproportionately affects those unable to pay bail leading to a longer jail sentence and create and provide re-entry programs for those who did non-violent crime to reduce recidivism.
- Supports efforts to combat climate change including support for putting a price on carbon emissions and ways to substantially increase the usage of renewable energy. Strong critic of the Trump administrations reduction of climate change regulations.
- Said that Trump should be impeached for his performance in the 2018 Russia-United States summit in Helsinki.
- O’Rourke has suggested that the way to address migrant caravans heading towards the US was to invest in the countries where the migrants had originated from.
- O’Rourke supports immigration reform and also was against Trump ending DACA. He also said in a TEDx talk that he would “tear down” the wall between the southern border and El Paso, saying the fencing only forced migrants into inhospitable places.
- Supports gun control including the implementation of universal background checks.
- Is Pro-Choice on Abortion.
- Changed his support from Medicare-For-All to Medicare for America, the alternative would provide all citizens on an employment-based health insurance to keep that insurance if they wanted to, but for those uninsured, medicaid-covered and new-borns to immediately be moved to Medicare. Supports expansion of medicaid, also supports stabilization of the insurance markets to improve the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
- Has a strong focus on reducing racial inequality.
- Strongly supports improved healthcare support for Veterans among other Veteran affairs.
Controversies
Initial burglary charge
In 1995 Beto and some of his friends were arrested after sneaking under a fence at the University of Texas in El Paso. He stayed in jail overnight and was put on bail, he was initially charged for burglary but the University chose to not press charges.
Driving while intoxicated
In 1998 Beto was arrested by authorities after causing a vehicle crash while under the influence of alcohol. The charges were dismissed in 1999 after he completed a court-recommended DWI program.
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