Former President Barack Obama recently released a long list of 260 Democratic candidates that he's endorsing across the U.S. just weeks before the November midterm elections, but Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke (D) was noticeably missing.
The U.S. congressman from El Paso told supporters at a recent campaign event that he didn't want Obama's endorsement because it didn't help candidates in previous elections.
"I don’t think we’re interested [in an endorsement],” O’Rourke said during a recent town hall meeting, the Texas Tribune reported. “I am so grateful to him for his service, he’s going to go down as one of the greatest presidents. And yet, this [election] is on Texas.”
Obama has backed 11 Texas Democrats, according to The Tribune.
O'Rourke is hoping to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz on Nov. 6.
O'Rourke said he defeated former Democratic Rep. Silvestre Reyes in the 2012 Democratic primary despite the fact that Reyes received endorsements from Obama and former president Bill Clinton, according to the Tribune.
“Bill Clinton fills up the county coliseum and a screaming El Paso Times front page headline [said] 'President urges El Paso to stick with Reyes,'" O'Rourke said. “And we won. And what that drove home for me is that someone else’s popularity is not transferable to a given candidate.”
The Cook Political Report has called the race a toss-up, but recent polls show Cruz ahead of O'Rourke.
Emerson College showed Cruz ahead by 5 points in a survey among likely voters, and a CBS News poll showed Cruz leading O'Rourke by 6 points among registered voters.
Donald Trump Jr. recently stumped for Cruz in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Vice President Mike Pence is expected to make a visit Texas on Monday to campaign for Cruz, and President Trump will come to Texas later this month.
