Outgoing Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel isn’t buying the 2020 hype surrounding former Senate candidate Rep. Beto O’Rourke, suggesting it would be unwise for the Democratic Party to “promote a loser.”
Mr. O’Rourke has been lifted up by Democrats and the media as a potential 2020 nominee for president after he was narrowly defeated by Sen. Ted Cruz in a surprisingly tight Texas Senate race on Nov. 6. The question everybody has been asking, however, is if he would stand a chance against President Trump.
“If Beto O’Rourke wants to go and run for president, God bless him, he should put his hat in and make his case,” Mr. Emanuel said Thursday on MSNBC. “But, he lost. You don’t usually promote a loser to the top of party.”
The mayor made the comments while endorsing Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi to be the next House speaker.
“Nancy Pelosi led the Democratic Party for the last two years from a really bad election in 2016. I’m from Chicago, maybe I’m really old school, but to the victor go the spoils,” Mr. Emanuel said.
Mr. O’Rourke, who raised more than $70 million in his failed bid against Mr. Cruz, said this week that “anything is possible” regarding a potential 2020 presidential run.
“Running for Senate, I was 100 percent focused on our campaign, winning that race,” he told reporters outside a town hall meeting with constituents in El Paso, The Dallas Morning News reported. “Now that that is no longer possible, you know, we’re thinking through a number of things. Amy and I made a decision not to rule anything out.”
Three Democratic strategists based in New England on Wednesday launched the Draft Beto 2020 PAC aimed at generating interest in Mr. O’Rourke.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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