Advertisement ‘Draft Beto 2020’ grassroots group gearing up in NH with two organizing events planned Group last week held events in Iowa, trying to convince Beto O’Rourke to run for president Share Shares Copy Link Copy

After holding high-profile organizing events in first-caucus state Iowa last week, Draft Beto 2020 now plans to broaden its focus to include New Hampshire in its push to convince former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas to run for president.Invitations have gone out to Democrats for a Draft Beto 2020 house party at the Concord home of attorney and party activist Jay Surdukowski on the evening of Jan. 30. Draft Beto 2020 will then hold a “Draughts with Draft Beto” organizing event, free and open to the public, on Feb. 1 at the To Share Brewing Co. in Manchester."We're very excited to join so many leaders and activists in New Hampshire next week,” Draft Beto 2020 organizer Will Herberich told WMUR. “It's an opportunity for us to share more about why we believe Beto O'Rourke would make a great president, and to get people involved in our grassroots campaign."As the Democratic presidential field gets more crowded by the day, O’Rourke has been traveling the country, soul-searching and considering his next move after losing a surprisingly close U.S. Senate election to incumbent Ted Cruz in heavily Republican Texas in November.His “regular-guy” posts., showing him, for instance, sitting in a dentist’s chair, have gone viral. His friends in Texas have said they believe O’Rourke truly hasn’t decided yet whether he to run. He posted recently that after losing to Cruz, not returning to Congress and not having a job for the first time in 20 years, he has been “in and out of a funk.”O‘Rourke traveled alone through Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas urging people to organize and approach their differences on issues in a “respectful, decent, kind” way.Draft Beto 2020 received widespread attention with its events in Des Moines and Iowa City and is likely to do the same in Concord and Manchester.Draft Beto 2020 is one of two separate groups urging O’Rourke to run for president. It focuses on grassroots organizing and posted an O’Rourke-style video last week featuring people from throughout the country urging him, “Run, Beto, run.”The separate Draft Beto group has its own video and hopes to raise $1 million to set up a donor list it would give to O’Rourke should he run.Draft Beto 2020 formed in late November and organizers say quickly had thousands of volunteers sign up from all 50 states. The group held a "Day of Action" in Manchester on Dec. 15.The Draft Beto 2020 event at Surdukowski’s home will co-hosted by group of 25 activists of various age groups. Included on the invitations are state Reps. Matt Wilhelm, Safiya Wazir, Casey Conley, Garrett Muscatel, Marjorie Porter, Cassie Levesque, Rebecca McWilliams, Tim Josephson and Carlos Cardona. Also listed are key activists Ned and Sally Helms, Garth Corriveau, Jenn Alford-Teaster, Trevor Brown, Natalie Laflamme, Bill Siroty, Bill Stelling, Isaac Epstein, Meg Nelson, Rob and Clara Dietel and Ben and Karina Kelley.“It’s a group of people with open minds,” Surdukowski said. “We have seen Beto generate so much excitement. We want to send a message that if he wants to test the waters in New Hampshire, he’ll find a receptive audience here.“A lot of us want to keep the fire stoked while he’s making up his mind,” Surdukowski said. “I’m especially struck by the young Democratic leaders who have signed on to host this event.”Surdukowski said the co-hosts have not committed to endorsing O’Rourke, should he run, and only a few have decided to back any presidential candidate.But, Surdukowski said, “It really says something that this group is so enthusiastic about publicly encouraging Beto to consider coming on up to New Hampshire to test the waters. “On the heels of this kind of organic welcome springing up for a candidate that is not even declared, I believe he may win a number of Granite State followers if he heads up here soon. A lot of people want to see him in the mix.“With such a sprawling field, someone with a national following like Beto really has nothing to lose by giving it a shot. And he can cover New Hampshire’s 10 counties a lot easier than the 254 counties in Texas.”But does Surdukowski think O’Rourke will run?“I’d say it’s probably 60 percent-40 percent that he’s running,” he said.