Beto O’ Rourke trivia: 90 unknown facts about the American politician!

Beto O’ Rourke recently announced that he is running for President of the USA in the 2020 elections!

So now is the perfect time to get to know him a little bit better! Let’s dive into his life and career.

1. His full name is Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke
2. He was born on September 26, 1972
3. He is an American businessman and politician
4. He represented Texas’s 16th congressional district for three terms in the United States House of Representatives
5. A native of El Paso, Texas, Beto O’ Rourke served on the El Paso City Council from 2005 to 2011
6. Beto O’ Rourke was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012
7. After defeating incumbent Silvestre Reyes in a Democratic primary
8. Beto O’ Rourke declined to seek re- election to the House in 2018
9. And instead ran for U.S. Senate
10. As the 2018 Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, O’ Rourke was narrowly defeated by Republican incumbent Senator Ted Cruz
11. On March 13, 2019, he announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in 2020
12. Robert Francis Beto O’ Rourke was born on September 26, 1972, at Hotel Dieu Hospital in El Paso, Texas
13. His parents are Pat Francis O’Rourke and his second wife Melissa Martha O’Rourke
14. He has Irish and Welsh ancestry
15. His family gave him the nickname in infancy “Beto”
16. A common Spanish nickname for first names ending in “-berto”
17. It was given to him initially to distinguish him from his namesake grandfather
18. His mother owned a furniture store
19. She is the stepdaughter of Fred Korth, Secretary of the Navy under President John F. Kennedy
20. His father, Pat O’Rourke, served in El Paso as County Commissioner and County Judge
21. Pat O’Rourke was an associate of Texas Governor Mark White
22. And he served as the state chairman of Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns
23. Before switching parties in the early 1990s
24. And running several unsuccessful bids for office as a Republican
25. He was raised in the Kern Place neighborhood
26. Beto O’ Rourke began his education at Escuela Montessori Del Valle preschool
27. He continued to Rivera Elementary School and Mesita Elementary School
28. In 1988, after two years at El Paso High School, he enrolled in Woodberry Forest School
29. Which was an all-male boarding school in Madison County, Virginia
30. Between graduating from high school and starting college in 1991, he was a summer congressional intern in the Capitol Hill office of U.S. Congressman Ron Coleman
31. Beto O’ Rourke attended Columbia University
32. There in his junior year he co-captained Columbia’s heavyweight rowing crew
33. He graduated in 1995 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature
34. He is fluent in Spanish
35. On May 19, 1995, Beto O’Rourke and his friends sneaked under the fence at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) physical plant
36. They were arrested by the UTEP police for burglary
37. He stayed in jail overnight and posted bail the following day
38. He was initially charged with burglary
39. But UTEP decided not to press charges
40. Prosecutors dropped the charges against Beto O’ Rourke and his friends in February 1996
41. Beto O’ Rourke was arrested for driving while intoxicated after a car crash on September 27, 1998, at 3:00 AM on Interstate 10 in Anthony, Texas
42. The charges were dismissed in October 1999 after he completed a court-recommended DWI program
43. Beto O’ Rourke became a fan of punk music
44. Beto O’ Rourke, along with two friends from El Paso, Mike Stevens and Arlo Klahr, learned to play musical instruments
45. With O’ Rourke taking up the bass
46. In 1991, while at Columbia University, the trio recruited drummer Cedric Bixler-Zavala
47. Together they formed the band Foss
48. During the summer, they toured the United States and Canada
49. Garnering the support of Feist
50. The group released a self-titled demo
51. And a 7″ record, “The El Paso Pussycats”, on Western Breed Records in 1993
52. Beto O’ Rourke also played drums in the band Swedes
53. They released an album called Summer in 1995
54. Fellow bandmates included Jake Barowsky, Arlo Klahr, Julie Napolin, and Mike Stevens
55. After graduation, Beto O’ Rourke worked as a live-in caretaker and art mover before working for an Internet service provider
56. He later took a position at H. W. Wilson Company as a proofreader
57. He wrote short stories and songs in his free time
58. Beto O’ Rourke returned to El Paso in 1998
59. The following year, he co-founded Stanton Street Technology Group
60. An Internet services and software company
61. As of March 2017, his wife Amy operates the business
62. For a few years, the company also published an online (and briefly print) newspaper
63. It was also called Stanton Street
64. Beto O’ Rourke modeled it on alternative periodicals like The Village Voice and New York Press
65. Beto O’ Rourke was involved with El Paso civic organizations and nonprofit groups
66. Such as the Rotary Club, United Way, and Center Against Sexual and Family Violence
67. He was a member of the boards of the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
68. And the Institute for Policy and Economic Development at UTEP
69. In 2012, O’Rourke filed for the Democratic primary against the eight-term Silvestre Reyes to represent Texas’s 16th congressional district
70. He defeated his Republican opponent, Barbara Carrasco, in the general election with 65 percent of the vote
71. On March 31, 2017, Beto O’ Rourke formally announced his candidacy for the United States Senate seat held by incumbent Republican Ted Cruz
72. In March 2018, O’ Rourke became the Democratic Party nominee
73. By winning 61.8 percent of the primary vote
74. In late 2018, speculation began that O’ Rourke might run in the United States presidential election in 2020
75. On March 13, El Paso TV station KTSM reported that O’ Rourke had decided to run for the 2020 presidency
76. Beto O’ Rourke married Amy Hoover Sanders
77. She is the daughter of Louann and Bill Sanders
78. They were married at her parents’ ranch in Lamy, New Mexico, on September 24, 2005
79. Bill Sanders is a real estate developer
80. Louann Sanders is the director of education development for the La Fe Community Development Corporation
81. And the executive director of the La Fe Preparatory charter school
82. The couple and their three children live in El Paso’s Sunset Heights area in a Henry Trost-designed mission-style house
83. There General Hugh Scott and Pancho Villa reportedly met in 1915
84. On July 3, 2001, Beto O’ Rourke’s father was riding his bicycle along the shoulder of Pete Domenici Highway just across the New Mexico state line when he was struck from behind by a vehicle
85. He was pronounced dead at the scene
86. Beto O’ Rourke delivered the eulogy during the funeral service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral
87. Political analysts classify O’ Rourke as a progressive, liberal, or centrist
88. GovTrack placed O’ Rourke near the ideological center of the Democratic Party
89. The American Civil Liberties Union gave him an 88 percent rating
90. While the United States Chamber of Commerce, a more conservative group, gave him a 47 percent rating