“Beto O’Rourke says he hasn’t decided yet if he will run for president. But here in his hometown, his supporters are bracing for a combative primary. And they point to a previous campaign — his 2012 run for Congress — as evidence that he can hold his own in an intraparty brawl,” Politico reports.

“Six years before the high-minded Texas Senate run that lifted his national star, O’Rourke felled an eight-term incumbent House Democrat, Silvestre Reyes, casting him as ineffectual and unethical in a bruising primary campaign. The race pit O’Rourke not only against Reyes, but then-President Obama, who endorsed the sitting congressman, and former President Bill Clinton, who campaigned for Reyes in the West Texas border district. In a stunning result, O’Rourke went to Congress, while Reyes became the only Texas incumbent to fail to win re-nomination that election year.”

Washington Post: “Mindy Myers, who was one of the primary architects of Warren’s political rise and has remained one of her close advisers, had been expected to play a senior role in the senator’s campaign. But she has been in talks with several rival campaigns and is planning to meet soon with Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), who is considering a presidential run.”

“Myers ran Warren’s 2012 U.S. Senate campaign and then served as her senate chief of staff, giving her a deep understanding of Warren’s strengths and weaknesses.”

First Read: “So yeah, Beto is starting to look very real for 2020. And maybe more than that, whether he runs or not appears to have frozen the Dem field. Think about that: His decision might be the biggest shoe to drop in the 2020 Democratic race.”

“Beto O’Rourke hasn’t made up his mind about a possible presidential run in 2020, but behind the scenes he’s speaking to potential kingmakers among a constituency whose support he’ll need in a Democratic primary: African-Americans,” NBC News reports.

One of those people is fellow 2018 progressive darling Andrew Gillum.

“The phone call with Gillum has not been previously reported… One source, granted anonymity to describe a private conversation, said the pair discussed their mutual preference that someone ‘young and unapologetically progressive’ lead the Democratic Party going forward.”

New York Times: “Rep. Beto O’Rourke has emerged as the wild card of the presidential campaign-in-waiting for a Democratic Party that lacks a clear 2020 front-runner. After a star-making turn in his close race against Sen. Ted Cruz, Mr. O’Rourke is increasingly serious about a 2020 run — a development that is rousing activists in early-voting states, leading veterans of former President Barack Obama’s political operation (and Mr. Obama himself) to offer their counsel and hampering would-be rivals who are scrambling to lock down influential supporters and strategists as future campaign staff.”

“Advisers to other prospective Democratic candidates for 2020 acknowledge that Mr. O’Rourke is worthy of their concern. His record-setting success with small donors would test the grass-roots strength of progressives like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders. His sometimes saccharine call to summon the nation’s better angels would compete with the likely pitch of Sen. Cory Booker.”

“And his appeal to some former Obama advisers — and, potentially, his electoral coalition of young people, women and often infrequent voters — could complicate a possible run for former Vice President Joe Biden, who would aim to win back many of his former boss’s constituencies.”

“Democratic rising star Beto O’Rourke’s team has been fielding calls from senior operatives who worked on President Barack Obama’s campaign in the pivotal states of Iowa and New Hampshire as the Texas congressman considers running for president in 2020,” CNBC has learned.

“While people close to O’Rourke insist that the discussions have not led to any hires, a former senior Obama administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said it is clear O’Rourke will have the consultants in place to help guide him if he chooses to make a run for the White House.”

“Beto O’Rourke, weighing whether to mount a 2020 presidential bid, met recently with Barack Obama at his post-presidency offices in Washington,” the Washington Post reports.

“The meeting, which was held on Nov. 16 at the former president’s offices in Foggy Bottom, came as former Obama aides have encouraged the Democratic House member to run, seeing him as capable of the same kind of inspirational campaign that caught fire in the 2008 presidential election.”

Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) “may have lost in Texas, but he’s winning in Obamaland,” NBC News reports.

“Aides to the former president and the man himself say O’Rourke’s campaign against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) gave them flashbacks to Obama’s precocious political rise and has positioned the young white congressman as an early if unlikely heir to the first black president’s ‘hope and change’ mantle.”

“Obama said as much at an event in Chicago last week and some of his former political lieutenants have been publicly encouraging O’Rourke to consider a 2020 presidential bid, while privately counseling him on what to expect should he jump in.”

“Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) is inspiring aides and allies of former President Obama, who say they could support him if he decides to run for president in 2020,” The Hill reports.

“The Obama allies are quick to point out similarities between O’Rourke, 46, and the former president, who was 47 when he was elected to the White House.”

“Both are political upstarts with unusual names who seemingly came out of nowhere and inspired thousands upon thousands of people to be part of a movement.”

Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), “who built a national following and a deep fundraising base during his unsuccessful bid for the Senate, would not rule out a run for the presidency, telling constituents at an El Paso town hall that he and his wife were considering next steps,” the Washington Post reports.

Said O’Rourke: “Amy and I made a decision not to rule anything out.”

“O’Rourke, 46, a three-term congressman from Texas, would enter the race with less elected experience than many of his rivals but a proven ability to excite Democratic voters in a political era dominated by President Trump. In a crowded field that could number more than 20 candidates, charisma is likely to be key to attracting attention of early voters and the small-dollar fundraising that most candidates will need to survive the early stages of the primaries.”

Dan Pfeiffer: “Democrats have fallen behind Republicans on the campaign-innovation curve—it’s a key reason we lost in 2016. But a Beto O’Rourke presidential campaign has the potential to change this. Like Obama’s 2008 campaign, Beto’s Senate campaign felt different because it was different. He didn’t hire a pollster. He spoke like an actual human instead of an AI-generated amalgamation of focus grouped talking points and consultant approved buzzwords like ‘fight’ and ‘everyday Americans.’ He spent his money on digital advertising rather than dump it into the black hole of TV ads that fatten consultant pockets more than they inform voters; and he communicated with voters in innovative ways.”

“By live-streaming so much content, Beto was able to tell his own story directly to the voters without filtering it through the funhouse mirrors of the legacy media. Tens of millions of people watched Beto’s impassioned defense of NFL players exercising their right to protest, taking his message directly to the people, instead of relying on the mainstream media or political Twitter to do the job for him. If Democrats run the same old campaign, using the same tired and outdated tactics, we will certainly lose to Trump.”

Related for members: ‘The Arena Test’ and 2020 Democrats

TMZ caught up with Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) “strolling around Capitol Hill and asked him straight-up if he’s planning to run for Prez in 2020… and the rocker-turned-politician left the door wide open.”

Politico: How the Beto bubble could burst.

Politico: “Sparked by his narrow defeat in a Texas Senate race, Beto O’Rourke is scrambling the 2020 presidential primary field, freezing Democratic donors and potential campaign staffers in place as they await word of his plans.”

“Even prior to O’Rourke’s meteoric rise, many Democratic fundraisers had approached the large number of 2020 contenders with apprehension, fearful of committing early to one candidate. But the prospect of a presidential bid by O’Rourke, whose charismatic Senate candidacy captured the party’s imagination, has suddenly rewired the race.”

“O’Rourke — who raised a stunning $38 million in the third quarter of his race — is widely considered capable of raising millions of dollars quickly, according to interviews with multiple Democratic money bundlers and strategists, catapulting him into the upper echelons of the 2020 campaign.”

“Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s closer-than-expected loss Tuesday has fueled optimism among his friends and allies — as well as Democratic admirers across the country — that he will run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination,” CNN reports.

“O’Rourke huddled with senior campaign aides Wednesday in El Paso, but offered them no indication of future political plans — saying he first planned to spend time at home with his family after nearly two years on the road and process the election’s results before weighing what comes next.”

“Another source described having ‘very initial discussions’ with O’Rourke in recent weeks about the prospect of a 2020 bid and what it would take to scale a Senate campaign that operated largely on the candidate’s own gut, without pollsters or a massive team of consultants, up to the national level. But the source said it’s too early for O’Rourke to have made any decisions.”

Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX) narrowly lost his U.S. Senate race but Texas Tribune co-founder Evan Smith told MSNBC that he thinks O’Rourke could still run for president.

Said Smith: “Well he didn’t want to talk about it until after this race. He was planning on going to the United States Senate and he had committed to serving for six years so he didn’t entertain the conversation. You know there will be drumbeats about this guy for the next two years because he energized people not just in Texas but around the country in a way that was really quite remarkable.”

He added: “Could he do it? Does he have the experience to do it? Does he have the national profile to do it? We really don’t know. I think what he’d like to do probably, is if he does lose this race, is go back to El Paso for a while and chill out and then will entertain the conversation at that point.”