Beto O'Rourke abandons race for Democratic nomination for 2020 presidential election

The representative of El Paso was given very low opinion polls in recent months, and was struggling to raise funds for his campaign.

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Beto O'Rourke at a campaign rally in Grand Prairie, Texas. Tony Gutierrez / AP

The disappointing polls and the difficulties in finding funding will have been the reason for Beto O'Rourke's candidacy. The forty-year-old announced Friday 1st November that he abandoned the race for the Democratic nomination. "Although it's hard to accept, it's becoming clear to me that this campaign can not afford to move forward successfully."explained the Texan.

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Formerly elected to the House of Representatives, this political phenomenon caused a stir during his unfortunate candidacy for a senatorial seat in 2018 but failed to arouse the same enthusiasm for the presidential election. It stagnated below the 2% average of surveys conducted by RealClearPolitics.

"We will work to ensure that the Democratic candidate is victorious against Donald Trump in 2020", promised Beto O'Rourke on the Medium platform. "I can tell you, for the chance to know the candidates, that we will be well served by any of them and I will be proud to support them", he added, while there are still seventeen contenders for the Democratic nomination.

"He will not be a candidate for the Senate in 2020" in his native Texas, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) its communication director Rob Friedlander.

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A campaign focused on the fight against firearms

Passionate speech, gesture very marked, it is with a message of gathering that this man from El Paso, on the border with Mexico, had entered the lists, carrying a positive message on the immigration.

After a shootout in a supermarket in his city in August, saying that he wanted to target Mexicans, he denounced Donald Trump's policies as 'Racist'. And had refocused his campaign on the fight against firearms, including assault rifles. "Of course we will take your AR-15, your AK-47"Beto O'Rourke said in a Democratic debate in September. He had been warmly applauded by the crowd but strongly criticized by the Republicans.

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Since the announcement of his candidacy in March, Beto O'Rourke had been criticized, especially with an interview in one of the magazine Vanity Fair which, according to his detractors, showed him rather arrogant. "I was really born for that"he had said. A phrase taken up by US President Donald Trump who quickly reacted, mockingly, to the announcement of his departure: "Oh no, Beto just dropped out of the presidential race when he said he was "born for that". "

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