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O'Rourke was elected to the first of his three terms in Congress in November 2012. Earlier in the year he had unseated the incumbent Representative Silvestre Reyes, a fellow Democrat. Before his congressional years, the [[business]]man O'Rourke represented District 8 on the El Paso City Council.

O'Rourke was elected to the first of his three terms in Congress in November 2012. Earlier in the year he had unseated the incumbent Representative Silvestre Reyes, a fellow Democrat. Before his congressional years, the [[business]]man O'Rourke represented District 8 on the El Paso City Council.

The Irish-American O'Rourke claims that his nickname "Beto" came from childhood as a shortened name for "Roberto" in Spanish, where many of his friends are Hispanic.  At [[Columbia University]] in [[New York City]], at which he participated on the rowing team, he was known as "Robert" or "Rob". O'Rourke's mother is the former Meissa Martha Williams. His father was El Paso County Judge Pat Francis O'Rourke, a political associate of former Texas [[Governor]] [[Mark White]]'s whose son, Andrew White, is a candidate in the May 22 Democratic gubernatorial runoff election. The senior O'Rourke was killed in July 2001, when he was struck from behind by a vehicle while he was riding his bicycle across the state line into [[New Mexico]].<ref>Bill Lambrecht, "From border to brink of Senate run, ''San Antonio Express-News'', March 17, 2017, pp. 1, A9.</ref>

The Irish-American O'Rourke claims that his nickname "Beto" came from childhood as a shortened name for "Roberto" in Spanish; many of his friends are Hispanic.  At [[Columbia University]] in [[New York City]], at which he participated on the rowing team, he was known as "Robert" or "Rob". O'Rourke's mother is the former Meissa Martha Williams. His father was El Paso County Judge Pat Francis O'Rourke, a political associate of former Texas [[Governor]] [[Mark White]]'s whose son, Andrew White, is a candidate in the May 22 Democratic gubernatorial runoff election. The senior O'Rourke was killed in July 2001, when he was struck from behind by a vehicle while he was riding his bicycle across the state line into [[New Mexico]].<ref>Bill Lambrecht, "From border to brink of Senate run, ''San Antonio Express-News'', March 17, 2017, pp. 1, A9.</ref>

In the Republican primary held on March 6, 2018, Cruz defeated four weak intra-party opponents with 1,317,450 votes (85.3 percent). In the Democratic primary, O'Rourke received 641,337 votes (61.8 percent) over two intra-party rivals. Some 506,000 more Republicans voted in the Texas primary than did Democrats.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://enrpages.sos.state.tx.us/public/mar06_325_state.htm?x=0&y=1394&id=142|title=Election Returns|date=March 6, 2018|publisher=Texas Secretary of State|accessdate=March 9, 2018}}</ref>  

In the Republican primary held on March 6, 2018, Cruz defeated four weak intra-party opponents with 1,317,450 votes (85.3 percent). In the Democratic primary, O'Rourke received 641,337 votes (61.8 percent) over two intra-party rivals. Some 506,000 more Republicans voted in the Texas primary than did Democrats.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://enrpages.sos.state.tx.us/public/mar06_325_state.htm?x=0&y=1394&id=142|title=Election Returns|date=March 6, 2018|publisher=Texas Secretary of State|accessdate=March 9, 2018}}</ref>