Beto O'Rourke

Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke (; born September 26, 1972) is an American businessman and politician who represented Texas's 16th congressional district for three terms in the United States House of Representatives. A native of El Paso, Texas, O'Rourke served on the El Paso City Council from 2005 to 2011. O'Rourke was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012 after defeating incumbent Silvestre Reyes in a Democratic primary. O'Rourke declined to seek re-election to the House in 2018 and instead ran for U.S. Senate. As the 2018 Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, O'Rourke was narrowly defeated by Republican incumbent Senator Ted Cruz. On March 14, 2019, he announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 2020. 2Early life Robert Francis O'Rourke was born on September 26, 1972, at Hotel Dieu Hospital in El Paso, Texas, to Pat Francis O'Rourke and his second wife Melissa Martha O'Rourke (née Williams). He has Irish and Welsh ancestry. His family gave him the nickname in infancy "Beto", a common Spanish nickname for first names ending in "-berto", initially to distinguish him from his namesake grandfather.His mother owned a furniture store, and is the stepdaughter of Fred Korth, Secretary of the Navy under President John F. Kennedy. His father, Pat O'Rourke, served in El Paso as County Commissioner and County Judg