The El Paso Homecoming That Set Beto O'Rourke's Star on the Rise

[TexasTowelie]

EL PASO — Beto O’Rourke attracted the officers’ attention near the Texas-New Mexico state line, rocketing past them in a speeding Volvo, hustling to nowhere around 3 a.m.

He was so inebriated when the police reached him — after he had collided with a truck and pivoted to a stop across the center median of Interstate 10 — that he nearly collapsed when he tried to step out of the car.

Hours earlier, on Sept. 26, 1998, Mr. O’Rourke had turned 26. He was home again in El Paso, back for good after three searching years of post-college odd jobs in New York City. He had moved into an apartment near his parents, in an 18-unit building his family owned. His mother hired him to help with computers and inventory at her home-furnishings store. His father, a hard-charging former local politician, was dreaming bigger.

And an after-hours mistake, even one this serious, was not going to stand in the way.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/us/politics/beto-o-rourke-el-paso-texas.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Good article. It gives insight and depth to his history. n/t

[brer cat]

2. K&R

[Laelth]

3. What is the point of posting this?

On DU? Really?

I am not alerting, but I see no constructive purpose for a post like this, here.

-Laelth

[Skittles]

5. it's important that Beto's past is well known

people can see just how far he has come

[NYMinute]

4. K&R nt

[Indygram]

6. It's behind a paywall for me, unfortunately

And I think it's really important that no candidates try to hide from their past. It's part of what forms them. That arrest and experience and where Beto has been able to succeed in spite of it helped him understand things like racial injustice in the legal system because if he were a black man and not white that mistake would have forever robbed him of being able to attain all he has. Beto never runs away from talking about this and as one of his supporters I won't either. Thanks for sharing...just wish I could read it.

[TexasTowelie]

7. Try clearing your browser history

or using a different Web browser. You could also try using a private window in your current browser.

I agree that it's important to know the background of the candidates since it shows their formative experience. Beto learned from the mistakes he made which makes him more relatable to most voters.