Corrections & Clarifications: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Beto O'Rourke was the only presidential candidate from a border state.

Presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has branded himself as a border expert since his U.S. Senate run, and he may have some ground to stand on — O’Rourke lives in El Paso, just blocks from the U.S.-Mexico border.

The front porch of his 114-year-old house — which was the meeting place for a Mexican revolutionary leader and a U.S. Army general to discuss an end for Mexico’s civil war more than a century ago — has a front porch overlooking Juarez, Mexico.

The former Texas congressman has called family separation inhumane, said help should be provided for undocumented immigrants trying to become citizens, and contended that the border has never been safer.

He’s fought President Donald Trump’s push for more border wall funding, instead calling for the walls that are currently in place to be torn down.

“Here’s what we know: After the Secure Fence Act, we have built 600 miles of wall and fencing on a 2,000-mile border,” he said in an interview with MSNBC last month. “What that has done is not in any demonstrable way made us safer.”

This echoes the beliefs of Rep. Raul Grijalva, who represents most of the Arizona’s southern border and has long been an outspoken critic of Trump’s policies.

O'Rourke, who announced his candidacy March 14, could provide Arizona's Democratic voters with an unique option in the state's presidential primary. He's someone like them who knows what it's like to actually live on the border, not subject to the criticism that politicians who don't know the border would be making immigration-related decisions.

Border-state pols don't agree on border policy

O'Rourke is not the only current presidential candidate from a border state; Democrats Julian Castro from Texas and Kamala Harris from California are two such examples. However, the views of border-state politicians on the border can vary widely.

For example, both of Arizona's senators support border security, but they take a very different approach.

Sen. Martha McSally, a Republican, has long supported President Donald Trump's border wall because of what she says is a humanitarian and security situation at the border.

Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat, has called the Trump wall plan a waste of taxpayer dollars but has not ruled out a barrier of some sort as an option.

MORE: Here's how Sinema, McSally voted on Trump border emergency rebuke

O'Rourke hasn't spent any extensive time in Arizona or at the border here. And as Politico reported in November, after O'Rourke's failed senatorial run against Ted Cruz, the Latino community in Texas tends to act different politically than the same community in Arizona because of influences from politicians such as George W. Bush.

O'Rourke told the El Paso Times that he believes he is the right person to challenge Trump, who won the 2016 election on a campaign promise of a border wall and strict immigration laws.

He said the conversation is lacking a firsthand perspective, and he thinks he is the right man to fill that void. Trump’s focus on the border provides the perfect opportunity for border communities to make a case for themselves, he said.

“Now that the country’s watching us, let’s share with them who we are and what we represent, and what the future could look like when we make the most of every single person who wants to contribute,” he said to the El Paso Times.

Do Trump, O'Rourke have anything in common?

We know they don't agree on whether El Paso is a dangerous city or a safe one. But O’Rourke and Trump could be similar in one way. Both are known for their authenticity — neither is afraid to speak his mind. But Trump has developed a reputation for misstatements and contradictions.

O’Rourke hopes his openness will be taken differently.

“I say what I think and what I believe,” he told the El Paso Times. “I have the courage of my convictions, and I’m also hopefully smart enough to know there’s so much more for me to learn. And I can only learn by listening to the people of this country. They will be my consultants.”

Born to be president?

Despite his loss to Cruz, O’Rourke believes he was born to be president.

At least that’s what he told Vanity Fair, whose lengthy cover story profiling the former congressman came out around the time his campaign launched. "Man, I’m just born to be in it, and want to do everything I humanly can for this country at this moment," he said.

Adorning the Vanity Fair cover, O’Rourke was the picture of a true Texan: jeans and a casual button-down, hands in his back pockets, standing by the door of a pickup truck on a dirt road, flanked by the family dog.

The “true American” look is reminiscent of another Texas politician, George W. Bush, in his presidential portrait, which is on display at the National Portrait Gallery. It has also drawn comparisons to a John Edwards cover photo for Men’s Vogue in 2007 and a Ronald Reagan cover for Time magazine in 1981.

Reach the reporter at alexis.egeland@azcentral.com or 909-635-9146. Follow her on Twitter @alexis_egeland.

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