Beto O'Rourke announces he's running for president

AUSTIN, Texas — It's official: Beto O'Rourke is running for president in 2020, the Texas Democrat announced Thursday morning.

Here are the latest updates:

Update 6:07 a.m. EDT March 14: In a campaign video released Thursday, O'Rourke, shown sitting next to his wife, Amy, said he's "running to serve you as the next president of the United States of America."

He added: "This is going to be a positive campaign that seeks to bring out the very best from every single one of us, that seeks to unite a very divided country. We saw the power of this in Texas."

>> Watch the announcement here

Original story: Beto O'Rourke announced Wednesday to a Texas TV station that he is planning on running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

According to The Associated Press, the former Texas congressman sent a text message to KTSM Wednesday afternoon confirming the news that he will seek the Democratic presidential nomination.

He wrote:

"I'm really proud of what El Paso did and what El Paso represents. It's a big part of why I'm running. This city is the best example of this country at its best."

The Texas Democrat unsuccessfully ran for Senate against Republican Ted Cruz in the 2018 election. At the time, he said he would not run for the nation’s highest office, but that changed by Nov. 26.

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"Running for Senate, I was 100 percent focused on our campaign, winning that race and then serving the next six years in the United States Senate," O'Rourke said at a town hall in El Paso, Texas. "That was 100 percent of our focus. Now that that is no longer possible, you know, we're thinking through a number of things. Amy and I made a decision not to rule anything out."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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