Waiting Game: Beto’s In No Hurry To Declare For 2020

The Associated Press reports:

If the deep field of potential Democratic presidential contenders is on pins and needles as Beto O’Rourke decides his next move, it could be a long wait. The outgoing Texas congressman’s team says he has no timeline or roadmap for deciding if he’d like to parlay a surprisingly close loss to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz into a White House try.

But O’Rourke’s backers say taking his time only makes him a more enticing presidential candidate, arguing that it’s part of an unorthodox appeal that helped him come within three percentage points of upsetting Cruz in Texas, where no Democrat has won statewide office in a generation.

Beto raised over $80M from donors nationwide in his Senate bid. His backers say that kind of track record means he could jump into the race later than everyone else and still do better.

Most presidential candidates formally declare in the spring before an election year. As of now, it looks like the Democratic field could be as crowded as it was for the GOP in 2015.