Beto O'Rourke confirmed he will run for president, according to El Paso TV station KTSM, ending months of speculation.

The news station said the former El Paso congressman said in a text message on Wednesday afternoon that he would seek the Democratic nomination for president and is expected to make a formal announcement Thursday.

O'Rourke has been pondering a presidential run for several months now, ever since his narrow defeat by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in the closely-watched Senate race in November. He lost by 2.6 percentage points, a surprisingly strong showing in a red state.

At the premiere of a documentary about his campaign called "Running with Beto" at South by Southwest on Saturday, O'Rourke told reporters that he was waiting to announce his decision about a presidential run.

“I want to make sure I do it the right way and tell everybody at the same time, so I’ll be doing that. I’ve got to be on the timeline that works for my family and for the country, so that’s the timeline we’re on," O'Rourke said.

He had previously announced that he was heading to Iowa this weekend to campaign for a Democratic state Senate candidate in a special election, which is expected to be expanded into a full-blown series of events surrounding his newborn candidacy starting Thursday. Iowa holds the nation's first nominating contest early next year and the caucus format would favor O'Rourke's tireless campaign style that was the hallmark of his Senate campaign.

In an article published in Vanity Fair on Wednesday, O'Rourke said, "You can probably tell that I want to run. I do. I think I'd be good at it."

The American-Statesman reached out to O'Rourke's campaign team about the television station's report Wednesday evening but has not heard back.