Texas Politician Beto O'Rourke Has a Net Worth in the Millions

In the aftermath of the horrific elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Democratic politician Beto O’Rourke confronted Texas Governor Greg Abbott at a press conference and accused him of “doing nothing” to stop another possible shooting in the state. O’Rourke is running against Abbott for the governor’s seat. He has a net worth of $9 million.

“The time to stop the next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing,” O’Rourke told Abbott when he interrupted a press conference Abbott was holding about the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the shooting.

After O’Rourke was escorted out of the room, he told reporters, “These kids died because the governor of the state of Texas, the most powerful man in the state, chose to do nothing,” CBS News reports.

O’Rourke also addressed Abbott’s scheduled appearance at the upcoming NRA Annual Meeting that's being held May 27–29 in Houston. “Governor Abbott, if you have any decency, you will immediately withdraw from this weekend’s NRA convention and urge them to hold it anywhere but Texas,” O’Rourke tweeted on May 24.

O’Rourke, who ran for the Democratic presidential candidate seat in 2019, supports gun control and universal background checks for firearm purchases. After the August 2019 mass shooting at a Walmart in his hometown of El Paso, O’Rourke called for a ban on the sale and possession of military assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. He proposed a buy-back program to confiscate the guns.

“Hell yes, we’re gonna take your AR-15, your AK-47,” he said in a 2019 debate. Later, he tweeted, “I was asked how I'd address people's fears that we will take away their assault rifles. I want to be clear: That's exactly what we're going to do. Americans who own AR-15s and AK-47s will have to sell their assault weapons. All of them.”

Born and raised in El Paso, O’Rourke was exposed to politics through his father. Pat O’Rourke held several county government positions and served on Jesse Jackson’s 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns.

In college, O’Rourke was a musician in several punk bands. After graduation, O’Rourke co-founded an internet service and software company, Stanton Street Technology Group, and published an online arts and entertainment site called Stanton Street.

O’Rourke entered politics in 2005 when he was elected to the El Paso City Council. He served on the council until 2012 when he was elected to represent Texas’ 16th Congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 2018, O’Rourke attempted to unseat Republican Ted Cruz from his Senate seat but lost by about 3 percentage points. O’Rourke ran in 2019 as a Democratic candidate for the 2020 presidential election, but his candidacy was brief, and he withdrew from the race about nine months after announcing his candidacy.

O’Rourke announced on November 15, 2021, that he was running against Abbott for the Texas governor seat. In a video he posted to Twitter, O’Rourke said the failure of Texas’ electricity grid and how Texas officials “abandoned those they were elected to serve” prompted him to run.

“Those in positions of public trust have stopped listening to, serving, and paying attention to the trusting people of Texas,” O’Rourke said in the video.