2020 candidate Beto O’Rourke to visit IMU April 7

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Nick Rohlman

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke speaks with members of the press after speaking at the home of John Murphy in Dubuque, Iowa on Sunday, March 16, 2019.

Sarah Watson, Politics Editor

Former Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke will return to Iowa for a second tour in less than a month as he continues his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.

He will make a stop at the IMU at noon April 7 to cap his four-day tour. Beginning April 3, O’Rourke has at least 15 visits scheduled so far, campaign aide Norm Sterzenbach told The Daily Iowan.

To keep track of more upcoming presidential visits to Johnson and Linn Counties, see the DI‘s candidate tracker.

During the last visit, the 2020 hopeful made to the Hawkeye State, he drove himself in a rented black Dodge Grand Caravan to dozens of events over a three-day visit. He ran in a 5K in North Liberty, campaigned for a state Senate candidate in Waterloo, and stopped by house parties in several Iowa towns that often left visitors in overflow areas.

O’Rourke rose to prominence during the 2018 midterm elections when he narrowly lost a race for a U.S. Senate seat to Republican incumbent Ted Cruz. Cruz topped O’Rourke by 2.6 percentage points, or approximately 200,000 votes.

A native of El Paso, O’Rourke started his career in politics in 2005, when he ran for a seat on the El Paso City Council. He served two terms before running for the U.S. House of Representatives. During his six years in Congress, he served on the House Veteran Affairs Committee, the House Armed Services Committee, and the House Committee on Homeland Security.