Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, is rumored to be exploring a presidential run, but his recent road trip has The Washington Post questioning whether he’s gearing up for 2020.
O’Rourke, who unsuccessfully ran to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, last year, recently embarked on a road trip through the Southwest and the Great Plains, traveling by himself to try and escape the “funk” he’s been in since leaving office.
"Maybe if I get moving, on the road, meet people, learn about what’s going on where they live, have some adventure, go where I don’t know and I’m not known, it’ll clear my head, reset, I’ll think new thoughts, break out of the loops I’ve been stuck in,” he wrote last week.
The Post’s Antonia Noori Farzan notes that O’Rourke’s blog posts, which have been praised by some for his stream-of-consciousness style, also have been derided as “emo,” and that in a recent interview with the Post he had no clear positions on several issues.
“Some find O’Rourke’s diary-style entries grating,” Farzan writes. “In an essay titled 'Beto’s excellent adventure drips with white male privilege,' CNN senior political reporter Nia-Malika Henderson argued that a female candidate could never get away with Instagramming their trip to the dentist, failing to answer basic policy questions, and blogging about their feelings while drifting around the country and trying to get out of a funk.”
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.