What the Beto O’Rourke Documentary Says About Political Charisma
HBO’s<em> Running With Beto</em> is an apt snapshot of the 2018 Senate campaign that went viral, in part, on the promise of streamed intimacy.
On the evening of November 6, 2018, Beto O’Rourke appeared before a large crowd in El Paso, Texas, to concede his senatorial race to the Republican incumbent, Ted Cruz. “I’m so fucking proud of you guys,” O’Rourke would , as it roared in response—a line that would promptly . Before he took the stage, though, O’Rourke huddled in a fluorescent-lit hallway with his wife, Amy, and a small collection of the staffers who had helped the Democrat come surprisingly close to unseating Cruz. “I just feel very, very, very lucky,” O’Rourke said, as they gathered in their circle, “and I love you guys more than you’ll ever know. And I know I was a giant asshole to be
