15
to honor the victims and call for guncontrol
legislation. His feud with Trump had been esca
lating. O’Rourke had said Trump had “no place”
in El Paso, and issued a profanityladen answer
to a reporter who asked about the President.
Trump, in return, mocked O’Rourke’s paltry
poll numbers.
Hundreds of people joined the rally. Protesters
carried signs that said things like TheRe’s Blood
on youR liTTle hands. The broader message
was that Trump was not welcome. “As of right now,
[O’Rourke’s] a good representation of who we are
as El Paso, and I’m happy about that,” says Deidrah
Carrillo, a 23yearold El Paso resident at the rally.
Nevertheless, she added, O’Rourke wasn’t her top
presidential candidate at this point.
O’Rourke’s struggles in the campaign have
prompted pundits to suggest he could best help
the Democratic Party by dropping out of the presi
dential race to run against the other Texas Senator,
John Cornyn, in 2020. Asked if he’s reconsidered
his run for President, O’Rourke says no. “There’s
not the space in my head or the place in my
heart to think about that, you know?” he says.
As President, O’Rourke says, he would take steps
to prevent massacres like this, from focusing fed
eral law enforcement on domestic terror threats to
pushing for universal background checks and “end
ing the sale of weapons of war.” He wants a national
standard for redflag laws and an end to the “boy
friend loophole,” which would keep those convicted
of domestic abuse or stalking a dating partner from
purchasing or owning guns.
In addition, it’s important to have a leader “who
reflects that the power of this country is in its diver
sity,” O’Rourke says. “That’s our genius and what
has so powerfully and positively set us apart from
the rest of the world.”
It’s not yet clear what will change over the com
ing months—for the city, the country or the can
didate. But seeing the grief in his community has
clearly hardened O’Rourke’s resolve to confront
Trump. To “see it right here at home, and know
full well that this will continue unless something
changes,” O’Rourke begins. “Yeah. So that’s where
I’m coming from.”
‘There’s
not the
space in
my head
or the
place in
my heart
to think
about
that.’
BETO O’ROURKE,
on suggestions
that he should
run for Senate in
2020 instead of
the presidency
IVAN PIERRE AGUIRRE—THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX
