Beto O’Rourke Talks Punk Rock and Politics at American University

Beto O’Rourke is still a punk rocker at heart. 

Eight years after he set a record for the most votes ever cast for a Democrat in Texas history, the former El Paso congressperson visited American University to reflect on the grassroots organizing career first sparked by anti-establishment music. 

As a teenager in the 1980s, O’Rourke experienced a turning point at his first punk show at Sound Seas Performance Warehouse, an underground music venue in El Paso. 

“It absolutely blew my mind and rocked my world to see kids my age writing and performing their own songs—not on stage, but literally on the ground floor,” O’Rourke told an audience of Eagles during Family Weekend.

Being in the thick of the action inspired O’Rourke to start his own band, Foss. While attending Columbia University, he and his bandmates crisscrossed the country in a van, bringing their DIY message from the westernmost tip of the Lone Star State to Canada. 

“You’re dependent on the kindness of strangers,” O’Rourke said. “You’re sleeping on their floors, couches; sometimes you’re sleeping on the side of the road.” 

In conversation with David Barker, professor of government in the School of Public Affairs, the former US representative returned to DC to headline the Kennedy Political Union’s October 10 event in Bender Arena. 

After an afternoon run through Rock Creek Park, O’Rourke told the crowd how couch-surfing between gigs proved to be ideal preparation for taking on incumbent Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the 2018 US Senate race. 

When launching that campaign, O’Rourke refused contributions from political actions committees and corporate donors. Instead, he pledged to visit all 254 counties in Texas and meet voters on their home turf.

“There was something freeing about being unshackled from the constraints of the way politics had been run in America,” O’Rourke said. “Showing up in towns, speaking what was on my mind, and making sure there were two microphones, so I could hear what was on the minds of those I wanted to serve and represent in the US Senate . . . there was something that felt punk rock about that.” 

In Junction, Texas, O’Rourke recalled encountering armed protesters outside his event at the local library. 

“I didn’t want to leave with my tail between my legs, so I stopped at the barbecue joint in Junction, which is world-famous,” O’Rourke said. “And sure enough, all these folks come in, and they boxed my truck in so that I can’t leave. They follow me into the restaurant, but it just turns out that they wanted to talk.” 

While waiting in line, O’Rourke struck up a conversation with the county Republican Party chair about the signs the local party had made for his visit. The chair ended up recommending the chopped brisket sandwich. 

“When you’re with one another, even in a place like Junction, Texas, even in a situation like I just described, you’d be surprised at how good we can be to one another,” O’Rourke said. 

That face-to-face drives his work today with Powered by People, the grassroots political group he founded to register and mobilize voters across Texas. 

“I would argue that it’s young people who have the most to gain or lose in these elections because they’ll be living with the consequences of them far longer than the old folks like me in this room tonight,” O’Rourke said. 

Texas has shuttered hundreds of polling locations across the state, including 92 in Tarrant County—the state’s third most populous— where closures have fallen heavily on Black and brown neighborhoods.  

For the first time since 1972, Democrats have fielded candidates for every partisan seat on the statewide ballot. Among them is state Representative James Talarico, whom O’Rourke touted as a potential breakthrough candidate to win a US Senate seat for Texas Democrats for the first time since 1988. 

“You've heard about this concept of political coattails that usually run down from the top of the ticket,” O’Rourke said. “I actually think this year those coattails are going to run in reverse from the bottom. So, all these people whose names will never be known to you will be the unsung heroes that I think will deserve our gratitude when James becomes the 51st vote in the US Senate.”