“Listen, there are going to be highs and lows in this campaign,” Beto O'Rourke said. “There have been in every campaign that I have ever run." | Charles Krupa/AP Photo 2020 Elections O’Rourke feels 'really good' about 2020 campaign

Despite recent headlines saying “Beto O’Rourke Blew It” and “The Beto Balloon Bursts,” the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate said he feels “really good about the way we’re campaigning.”

“I’m going to people where they are in their communities,” O’Rourke said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning. “No me importa. I do not care how red or blue, rural or urban; I’m showing up to listen to them, and what they’re telling me is they want this country to come together around our shared challenges. So I’m listening to them more than I am to the headlines.”


O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman, has come under fire for a recent Vanity Fair cover story in which he was quoted as saying: “I want to be in it. Man, I’m just born to be in it.” While he has since said he meant he felt he was born to be a public servant, the article was perceived by many as reflecting a sense of entitlement that he was born to be president.

“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked O’Rourke whether he thinks he can escape the backlash from that story and move past voters’ early impressions of him.

“The only way that I’m going to have any chance is to go everywhere, meet with everyone, leave no one behind and take no one for granted,” he said. “So that’s what I’m focused on.”

“Listen, there are going to be highs and lows in this campaign,” he added. “There have been in every campaign that I have ever run. But if we stay focused on the people — the very reason that we’re doing this in the first place — bringing them in and allowing them to contribute to the solutions to the challenges that we face, I don’t think there’s anything that can stop us.”

O’Rourke said that the country needs “to be able to bring in a new energy,” responding to Brennan’s suggestion that his campaign relies heavily on him being a younger candidate, especially when going up against fellow Democrats Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, who are in their 70s.

“We need to be able to bring in new voters,” he said. “We need to make sure that this democracy, so badly damaged, works for everyone. All I’m saying is that the way that I campaign — this relentless pursuit of people wherever they are, learning their stories, incorporating what’s most important to them in their lives into this campaign and into the service that I want to perform for this country — is what we need at this very divided moment. So that’s the way I offer my service going forward.”