<p><span>Beto O’Rourke did not defeat Ted Cruz in the 2018 Texas race for the Senate, but his campaign made him a political celebrity. In March, when O’Rourke announced his candidacy for the Democratic Presidential nomination, he raised more than six million dollars in a single day. In recent weeks, </span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/06/03/can-beto-bounce-back">he has dropped precipitately in the polls</a><span>, and he has not yet found a platform that connects with voters. </span><a href="https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/william-finnegan">William Finnegan</a><span> joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss what’s gone wrong, and what it means for a party desperately seeking a candidate who can topple Donald Trump in 2020.</span></p>
Beto O’Rourke did not defeat Ted Cruz in the 2018 Texas race for the Senate, but his campaign made him a political celebrity. In March, when O’Rourke announced his candidacy for the Democratic Presidential nomination, he raised more than six million dollars in a single day. In recent weeks, he has dropped precipitately in the polls, and he has not yet found a platform that connects with voters. William Finnegan joins Dorothy Wickenden to discuss what’s gone wrong, and what it means for a party desperately seeking a candidate who can topple Donald Trump in 2020.