Beto O’Rourke

BETO O’ROURKE SITS IN AN ARMCHAIR IN HIS El Paso living room, tapping his foot and trying not to talk about himself. It’s three days after the mass shooting that left at least 22 dead and 26 injured at a Walmart just under 10 miles from where his family lives. His kids have strewn arts and crafts across the coffee table. (Friendship bracelets, in just about any color you could want.) His wife Amy is sitting in the chair next to his.

O’Rourke is talking about the shooter. “This guy who came here was afraid of this community because he had been taught to be afraid,” he says. “These border communities are safe not despite but because they’re communities of immigrants. There’s something very special about these places.”