Beto O'Rourke had previously attracted national attention for his unsuccessful campaign against Ted Cruz in the 2018 Senate election in Texas.

[3] O'Rourke's major policy positions include a public option for healthcare, universal background checks for firearm purchases and a ban on assault weapons for personal sale or use, increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, a universal pre-kindergarten program, federal legalization of recreational marijuana, and removing tax-exempt status of religious organizations that oppose same-sex marriage.

"[9] After losing the Senate race in Texas, O'Rourke mentioned at a town hall meeting that he and his wife had made a decision not to rule anything out.

[3] The first outlet confirming his announcement was KTSM-TV, El Paso's local NBC-affiliated TV station, where his former brother-in-law was once the news director.

[14] On April 27, O'Rourke held a rally at Los Angeles Trade-Technical College where he delivered condolences for the Poway synagogue shooting that occurred hours earlier and pledged that they would support their words with actions to ensure that "in this country that sees more than 30,000 gun deaths every year, a rate not seen anywhere else in the world, that we will insist on universal background checks for everyone, without loopholes or exceptions.

"[15] On April 28, O'Rourke held a town hall at the United Irish Cultural Center in San Francisco, California where he reflected on the two weeks that San Franciscans spent "wearing masks on their face last year because of the smoke that came here from wildfires that raged at historic levels" and said that he would block the Keystone XL Tar Sands pipeline as president.

[19] On June 15, O'Rourke participated in a South Carolina forum, expressing his intent to push for more affordable housing options and that his administration would "complement extraordinary local leadership with federal resources and funding.

"[21] On July 7, O'Rourke held a campaign rally at Marathon Music Works in Nashville, Tennessee, where he pledged to grant citizenship to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and to release asylum seekers from federal detention facilities.

[23] On July 24, O'Rourke held a presidential forum in Detroit, Michigan and a town hall later that day in Flint, where he called climate change the "greatest existential challenge" facing both the United States and the planet.

[24] Speaking after the 2019 El Paso shooting, during an August 5 interview with Chris Cuomo of CNN, O'Rourke called Trump the "most racist President we've had since perhaps Andrew Johnson, in another age and another century, and he is responsible for the hatred and the violence that we're seeing right now."

He furthered that it was up to those trying to aid the United States to highlight the connections between violence and "what this President has said from that maiden speech when he ran for the highest office of the land.

"[25] On August 7, O'Rourke held a rally where he called the United States "a country that is not safe, that refuses to pass laws to end gun violence" and accused President Trump of demonizing communities such as the one in El Paso and vilifying immigrants.

[27] When asked about his view on marginal taxes, O'Rourke gave an answer in English and Spanish "that rambled through campaign finance reform, gerrymandering, same-day voter registration and “power to the people.

""[28] Later, Julian Castro asked O'Rourke why he would not support decriminalizing improper border crossings through a repeal of Section 1325 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

[39] A Harvard University's Institute of Politics poll of likely Democratic presidential primary voters between the ages of 18 and 29 conducted between March 8 and 20, 2019 found O'Rourke in third place with 10%, behind Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden by double digits.

[44] In an Emerson College poll conducted between August 1 and 3 of Texas presidential primary voters, O'Rourke was in second place with 19%, trailing Biden by nine points.

[53] O'Rourke supports universal background checks for individuals looking to purchase firearms and a ban on assault weapons for personal sale or use.