At this point, he's just another candidate. The only reason anyone knows of him is because the media drove him to relevance when he ran for senator against Ted Cruz in TX for the 11/2018 senate election. It was a close race, and the balance of the senate was near 50/50 so the media created a fever pitch about the race.
The race was presented as an amazing, long running, cliff hanger, suspense filled drama that the best movies try to create.
He had 3 terms (2yrs each) as a congressman from tx. He wasn't a particularly special congressman.
The important thing to watch is *how* the media handles each of the candidates. Pay attn to the questions asked & the answers given.
Betos announcement that he's running looked like a spectacle with all the handwaving - standing on -was it a restaurant table? spouting dire consequences for the world. Cliffs: Vote for Beto or succumb to global catastrophe.
Also, pay attn to what the candidates are saying now, vs the past.
Beto just before the election in Nov 2018:
In an interview Sunday with CBS' "60 Minutes" program, O'Rourke, who is facing a likely defeat Tuesday, said the impact on his young family of five was one of the reasons he wasn't considering seeking higher office.
"We've spent the better part of the last two years not with each other, missing birthdays, and anniversaries, and time together. Our family could not survive more of that. We need to be together," O'Rourke said. "I'm saying that if elected to the Senate, I'll serve every day of that six-year term. I'm not looking at 2020, and in fact, I'm completely ruling that out. I'm not going to do that. Win or lose, I'm not running in 2020."
fwiw, apparently in 2011 he said he wasn't running for congress for the same reasons.