O’Rourke formally launches 2020 White House bid with rally in El Paso

Beto O’Rourke formally launched his presidential campaign in El Paso, Texas Saturday.

The former El Paso congressman has two other Saturday rallies in Texas, where he came close enough to upsetting Sen. Ted Cruz to generate the national buzz now buoying his 2020 White House bid.

In El Paso, O’Rourke told 1,000-plus supporters near the US-Mexico border that immigrants make the country stronger. The former congressman offered support for unapologetically liberal positions, including backing federal legalization of marijuana. He promised to strengthen unions nationwide, make it easier to register to vote and end U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

O’Rourke again vowed to work with Republicans, saying that a unified campaign will help him win his party’s 2020 nomination and ” defeat Donald Trump. ”

President Donald Trump has threatened to shutter the U.S.-Mexico border to combat a rise in the number of immigrants crossing.

Speaking mere blocks from the border, O’Rourke said, ” We have learned not to fear our differences but to respect and embrace them. ”

After the rally in El Paso, O’Rourke will travel to historically black Texas Southern University in Houston before an evening event in the shadow of Austin’s state Capitol.

O’Rourke has visited nine states since joining the race March 14, though he’d promised to head home for an official launch.

Texas is America’s largest red state, but Democrats aren’t writing it off in 2020. Another presidential candidate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, drew large crowds at Texas Southern last weekend.

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