Shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday in El Paso, Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke conceded to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) after putting up an intense and heavily scrutinized challenge for his Senate seat.

Taking the stage with his wife, Amy, O’Rourke was greeted by a raucous crowd of almost 10,000 at El Paso’s minor league baseball stadium. His 12-minute speech covered many familiar themes from his campaign, and at times sounded more like a victory oration than a concession.

“I am as inspired, I’m as hopeful as I have ever been in my life, and tonight’s loss does nothing to diminish the way that I feel about Texas or this country,” O’Rourke, who sounded hoarse and emotional, told a cheering crowd.

O’Rourke said he called Cruz to congratulate him, drawing boos from the crowd.

“What I said [to Cruz], what I pledged on behalf of all of us, is that at this time of division — our country’s been as polarized as I can remember it in my life, all this bitterness that defines so much of the national conversation today — if there’s anything that we can do to help him in his position of public trust, to ensure that Texas helps to lead this country in a way that brings us back together on the big things that we want to achieve,” O’Rourke said.

O’Rourke once again boasted his campaign had not accepted any money from PACs — and dropped an f-bomb when he told the crowd: “I am so [expletive] proud of you guys.”

He especially thanked El Paso — “this community that raised me, made me who I am” — which he called, along with Ciudad Juárez across the U.S.-Mexico border, “powerful, magical and nothing to be afraid of or walled off or to apologize for.”

“I don’t know any way to say this, other than, El Paso, I love you so much,” O’Rourke said, his voice breaking.

O’Rourke, a political unknown at the beginning of the campaign who became an unexpected breakout star, didn’t discuss his future plans.

“We will see you out there, down the road,” O’Rourke said. He exited the stage, and John Lennon’s “Imagine” began to play.