Beto O’Rourke puts all his chips on 2018

Beto O'Rourke carries his daughter Molly through the crowd as he plays baseball with his old team Los Diablitos at a fundraiser for his campaign for U.S. Senate on April 14, 2018. Beto O'Rourke carries his daughter Molly through the crowd as he plays baseball with his old team Los Diablitos at a fundraiser for his campaign for U.S. Senate on April 14, 2018. Photo: Tom Reel /San Antonio Express-News Photo: Tom Reel /San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close Beto O’Rourke puts all his chips on 2018 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN — At a Democratic fundraiser, Beto O’Rourke joked that he might have some self-interest in the job-training and education improvements he touts as essential.

“We make it so hard for young people and older people who may be in mid-career. May have lost their job. May be 45 years old, ran for Senate, didn’t win — and they need another job going forward right?” O’Rourke said, right in the middle of his call for action.

It’s a laugh line, but at least part of it’s serious.

O’Rourke, the Democratic congressman from El Paso trying to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, said he’s not looking to burnish his credentials and build a network for a more winnable fight down the road.

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Instead, he said, he’s putting all his marbles in this game. And if he doesn’t go to the Senate, he said, he’s not running again.

“We’re putting all the chips on 2018. Everything’s on this. I’ve got these three beautiful kids who are 11, 9 and 7 years old, and we need to be together as a family,” O’Rourke told the San Antonio Express-News on that Saturday in April at his own campaign fundraiser before the Blue Wave Summit Fundraising Reception.

Pressed on whether he would run again if he doesn’t win this time, O’Rourke said flatly, “No.” Asked again, he said, “No. No. … Everything on ’18.”

If his stance holds, it could be a hard truth for Texas Democrats, who haven’t won a statewide election in nearly a quarter of a century.

A changing electorate, perhaps hastened by President Trump’s administration putting a fire to Democrats’ enthusiasm, could get them closer to a statewide win this year.

But their best chance this time appears to be making gains in congressional and legislative races.

O’Rourke, a candidate who has raised big money and drawn crowds around the state, would be seen as an important statewide contender for the future if he finishes strong in November against his formidable Republican incumbent.

Finishing strong could mean losing by a smaller margin than the candidates of recent years, moving the needle for the party and paving the way for a future run.

But losing by less is short of an inspiring motto, and it’s not the goal that drew O’Rourke away from his family.

At his fundraiser — highlighted by a sandlot baseball game in which he and his wife played with Los Diablitos de El Paso against the Austin Playboys —O’Rourke sometimes carried his daughter, Molly, piggyback as he met with voters.

It was a warm moment of family time during a campaign in which he mostly spends his time away from Washington on the trail instead of with his family.

When Congress was in recess last August, he spent 34 days in a row on the road. He has promised to visit all 254 counties, and his campaign believes he’ll hit the last one in June.

Chris Evans of O’Rourke’s campaign said the staff has tried to give him one weekend a month in El Paso. But by the time that family weekend rolls around, Evans said, time is being shaved off of it for campaign events.

It’s a pace set by a candidate who hates to say no. If staff thinks it’s not possible to accept an invitation, he said, O’Rourke is likely to counter, “Can’t we wake up earlier, or go to bed later?”

Small things can bring home the effect of the absences, like when Evans said O’Rourke’s wife told him that their youngest son, Henry, was outside playing catch.

When O’Rourke asked who he was playing with, his wife answered, “Oh, nobody. He is throwing the ball in the air and catching it.”

It highlighted what he’s giving up to try for a U.S. Senate seat that, on paper, doesn’t look so attainable. But he insists that it’s within reach for those who support his call for investment in education, good wages, health care and an immigration plan that is rooted in the strength of Texas’ diversity.

“We understood that these two years — going back to the end of 2016 through the end of 2018 — we were going to give everything we had to this race. And knowing that being in all 254 counties meant that we weren’t going to be together as a family, and that we were just going to do everything we could to deliver for Texas and the country,” O’Rourke said. “And so we’ve got to win. That’s all we can focus on.”

pfikac@express-news.net @pfikac