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Beto is no longer not running for president

Things have changed since Election Day.
Beto O'Rourke is no longer not running for president

Beto O’Rourke, the U.S. congressman who gave Ted Cruz a surprising challenge in the Texas Senate race, has backtracked on his pledge not to run for president.

"I haven't made any decisions about anything,” O’Rourke told TMZ on Tuesday.

In November — on the very day before the midterm election he narrowly lost to Cruz — O’Rourke said he would not be a candidate for the 2020 presidential election.

"I will not be a candidate for president in 2020,” O'Rourke told MSNBC. “That’s, I think, as definitive as those sentences get.”

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Although he lost in Texas, O’Rourke garnered national attention among left-leaning voters. He raised a staggering amount of money, $69 million, more than any other candidate in Senate history. Even more strikingly, O’Rourke said that none of it was PAC money, a statement PolitiFact confirmed was true.

"I don’t take a dime of PAC money: no corporations, no special interests,” O’Rourke said.

Politico reported earlier this week that top Democratic donors and possible campaign staffers have been eagerly awaiting to hear O’Rourke’s next move.

Still, O’Rourke isn’t alone in hinting at a 2020 bid: Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and Michael Bloomberg have all given coy statements indicating they’re considering it too.

Cover image: Representative Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat from Texas, gestures during a concession speech at an election night rally in El Paso, Texas, U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Senator Republican Texas Senator Ted Cruz won a second term, defeating a spirited and high-profile challenge from progressive Democratic House member O'Rourke. Photographer: Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images