Beto O'Rourke, who is widely expected to enter the 2020 presidential campaign, has been emailing supporters in recent days and speaking privately with potential staffers. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 2020 elections Beto O’Rourke says he’s made a decision, promises 2020 announcement ‘soon’

Beto O’Rourke has decided whether he will run for president, he said Wednesday, but declined to say what that decision is.

“Amy and I have made a decision about how we can best serve our country,” the former Texas congressman said in a prepared statement about his deliberations with his wife. “We are excited to share it with everyone soon.”


O’Rourke, who is widely expected to enter the 2020 presidential campaign, has been emailing supporters in recent days and speaking privately with potential staffers. He had previously said that he would decide by this week whether to run for president, though he also said he would not be “limited” by that timetable.

The Dallas Morning News first reported O’Rourke’s statement about his decision.

O’Rourke became a Democratic sensation during his closer-than-expected run against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) last year, a contest in which he raised more than $80 million, largely from a national network of small donors.

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Yet O’Rourke has done little to prepare traditional infrastructure for a presidential campaign. More established Democrats such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have been preparing to run for months, if not years.

On Wednesday, a campaign formed to draft O’Rourke into the presidential race invited supporters to sign up for alerts in anticipation of O’Rourke’s looming announcement.

"We're anticipating a bit of pandemonium when Beto announces, but in a good way," Draft Beto co-founder Nate Lerner said in a prepared statement. "We want to organize that energy and point it in the right direction."