Beto O’Rourke is coming to Cedar Rapids

Update: On Wednesday night, Beto O’Rourke confirmed he is running for president in a text sent to KTSM, a television station in his hometown of El Paso.

Beto O’Rourke is coming to Cedar Rapids on Friday, and the former Texas congressman will be a guest on the Political Party Live podcast, hosted by Simeon Talley and Stacey Walker. The podcast will be recorded at the Raygun store in Cedar Rapids at 7 p.m., and the event is free and open to the public, but space will be limited, so people are encouraged to register in advance.

O’Rourke has been constantly mentioned as a potential presidential candidate since he gained a national reputation running for the Senate against Ted Cruz in the 2018 midterm elections. Even before he announced his candidacy, polls showed the El Paso native was a serious contender for the 2020 Democratic nomination. In the latest Iowa Poll, O’Rourke finished ahead of such already declared candidates as Sen. Cory Booker, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Kirstin Gillibrand.

O’Rourke’s Cedar Rapids stop comes as part a three-day tour of eastern Iowa, which will conclude on Saturday in Waterloo, where O’Rourke will campaign on behalf of Eric Giddens, the Democrat in the special election for Iowa State Senate District 30.