Beto O'Rourke Joins the Race, but This Big Question Still Hangs Over the 2020 Election
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Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke says he's running for president in 2020, joining a growing group of more than a dozen Democrat candidates seeking their party's nomination.
O'Rourke gained national attention in the 2018 midterm elections, when he came within three points of upsetting Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), raising record amounts of cash while mobilizing young people and minorities.
But there's a big question still hanging over the 2020 presidential race: Will former Vice President Joe Biden run for the Democratic nomination?
At a rally before a group of firefighters this week, he might have offered a hint.
With the crowd chanting "run Joe run," Biden, 76, told them to hold on to that energy. "Save it a little longer. I may need it in a few weeks," Biden said as the crowd cheered. "Careful what you wish for!"
Polls show that Biden leads every other Democratic candidate seeking the nomination.
Biden has a history of support from blue collar workers, and Democrats would like to win those voters back after some of them changed sides and voted for Trump in 2016. The International Association of Fire Fighters is "all in" for Biden according to the union's general president, Harold A. Schaitberger.
In his speech Tuesday aimed at working-class voters, Biden presented his vision of America while also blasting Trump.
"We can't be divided by race, religion, by tribe. We're defined by those enduring principles in the Constitution, even though we don't necessarily all know them," Biden said. "In America, everybody gets a shot."
There are already more than a dozen candidates seeking the Democratic nomination including Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Gov. Jay Inslee, Gov. John Hickenlooper, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and former HUD Secretary Julián Castro.
This article compiled from Associated Press content.
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