Ted Cruz and Beto O'Rourke have this big policy goal in common
A President Beto O'Rourke might have something to work on with his former top rival.
The Texas Democrat announced on Wednesday that if he was elected president, he'd push for a constitutional amendment that forced term limits on congressmembers and Supreme Court justices. The suggestion sets O'Rourke apart from most contenders in the 2020 race, but simultaneously pushes him closer to his former competitor Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
O'Rourke narrowly lost his bid to unseat Cruz last year, but he drew in supporters nationwide and is now hoping to mobilize them for his 2020 campaign. He introduced a swath of government reforms to his 2020 agenda on Wednesday, proposing some common Democrat-approved goals such as making Election Day a national holiday, ending gerrymandering, and allowing released felons to vote. He'd also like to place term limits on Supreme Court justices and congressmembers — something fellow contenders Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have opposed, BuzzFeed News notes.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
That same plan, minus the limits on Supreme Court justices, looks a lot the constitutional amendment Cruz proposed in January. "Term limits on members of Congress offer a solution to the brokenness we see in Washington, D.C.," Cruz said in a press release at the time, while O'Rourke introduced them as a way to "increase participation in our democracy." But given that there's a solid conservative majority on the Supreme Court, it seems unlikely that there's a Cruz-O'Rourke partnership in America's future.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
‘National dynamics will likely be the tipping point’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Two men accused of plotting LGBTQ+ attacksSpeed Read The men were arrested alongside an unidentified minor
-
Israel arrests ex-IDF legal chief over abuse video leakSpeed Read Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi had resigned from her post last week
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
