Andrew Gillum and Beto O’Rourke lost their races by thin margins and now there is talk of them running for President of the United States to defeat Donald Trump in 2020. Reportedly, they both met with our 44th, and deeply missed, President Barack Obama.
According to CNN, Gillum recently met with Obama, who was campaigning for him in Florida. On Tuesday, Gillum was in Washington, D.C. to speak at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and while there he met with Obama. There aren’t details about their conversation, but is safe to assume there was a discussion about the presidency. When Gillum was asked about running for president in 2020, he said, “I plan on being married to my wife. That is all I am planning. What I am committed to doing between now and 2020 is doing everything I can to make the state of Florida available and winnable for the democratic nominee for president.”
The Washington Post reports O’Rourke met with Obama last month, “The meeting, which was held 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.”
While O’Rourke and Gillum garnered public enthusiasm around their campaigns, it may be a tough sell to run for president considering they both lost. Obama, after all, was the senator of Illinois. In addition, with the possibility of Joe Biden running, this may not be their time. That said, stranger things have happened: Trump is president.