tonight on "the axe files," one on one with presidential candidate beto o'rourke. >> if we're not having our priorities, we'll fail with donald trump. this cannot be about one man or another political country but about the country. >> taking on president trump at the border. >> what we need is someone who will not play games or politics with people's lives or the security of the country. >> city council to congress or the national political spotlight. >> i was frustrated to be honest with you that that was the -- >> welcome to the nba, man. >> yeah. >> welcome to "the axe files." >> beto o'rourke, so good to be with you, here in el paso, the historical plaza theater. did your band ever play here? you ever play this thousand seat? >> we were lucky to play a street corner with a small bar but never the plaza theater but it's an honor to be here with

you. >> great to be here too. speaking of show business, right before you announce, there was this v"vanity fair" profile of you and got a partial quote saying, i was born to be in this. what did you mean by that? >> i found my purpose in service. so playing in punk rock bands growing up was a ton of fund. starting a small business in el paso, high-tech company in a place that you might not expect to find it, growing that business, being able to serve the small business community here was incredibly fulfilling but not until i was on city council that i felt i had found my calling. i love being with people, working on an issue. same with congress, same campaigning across the state of texas. i'm fulfilled. i feel like i'm at my highest and best use to my fellow

citizens when i'm serving. that's what i meant. >> you got a little guff for it. and probably unfairly because the whole quote was a little bit different, but it seemed a little cheeky. >> right. as though i were born. >> when you saw it, d? >> i was frustrated. >> welcome to the nba, man. >> that was the quote they chose to use, but how cool that any takes your picture and get to meet her at all. >> what about the moment? the president of the united states kind of a singular position. there's a lot of ways to serve. what about this moment draws you to this race? >> yeah. there's no moment like this one. no set of challenges like these. some which we've had for a while and have just become worse, immigration, 30 years and counting for any kind of real resolution. you have folks in this country dying of diabetes in the year

2019. people who have insurance but can't afford their premiums or their prescriptions. but you also have this singular existential challenge of climate that's come into focus. for me and so many people in this country, and the trajectory we're on, if not mitigated, if not drastically changed, will consume more of our communities and really, the lives of the people who will succeed us on this planet. and my premise for american exceptionalism and excellence is that you can't meet this kind of challenge by half measure. you've got to be bold and can't meet with half the country. cannot just be democrats or republicans. so bringing people together. serving as a democrat in a republican-controlled congress every day that i serve there. traveling to each one of the 254 counties of texas, no matter how red or rural, how big and blue and urban. i found that i have an ability to at least be part of a

movement that brings people together. >> why is that so important? the two words that you haven't invoked in your presentation are donald and trump. >> right. in some ways, he's the latest manifestation or the logical conclusion of this incredibly divisive politics that we have in our country. a republican party that unfortunately, at least those in representative offices has become unmored from science, the best traditions of the republican party. but, you know, so many of the problems that we're talking about are not of his causing. he's exacerbated those divisions. he's worked to make us angry and afraid of one another. but if the goal is simply to defeat donald trump, then we will not have achieved our true priorities. if we're not bringing the country together around our ambitions, our priorities, then we will have failed even if we defeat donald trump. so this cannot be about one man.

we are the last best hope. not any one candidate, definitely not a political party, but the american people, the genius of this democracy, which when it works and it's not working right now, but when it works, harnesses the power of hundreds of millions to come and purpose with common cause and then is able to convene the powers of the planet to do the same. >> why isn't it working right now? >> i think you have institutions that have been for all intents and purposes, corrupted by those who can pay for access and then outcomes, a supreme court decision in 2010, citizens united, that fundamentally exacerbated some of the divisions and problems. incorporations or people, spending unlimited amounts of money. the fact that we don't make meaningful progress on the things we care about and yet we're seeing record profits for corporations who just got the biggest part of a $2 trillion at a tax break, a time $21 trillion in debt, it invites the cynicism

and the disengagement and trust of so many fellow americans. when you add to that in a state like texas, you have reconstruction and functionally locked people out based on race and ethnicity of national origin from electing those who will represent them or running office in the first place. we have a democracy that has some systemic failings. we have an economy that does not work for everyone. tdr, in the last concentration of wealth and power says you're not going to have a political democracy if you don't have something approaching an economic democracy. we have neither in this country right now. in fact, things are as bad as they've been in both cases. >> i had a chance to screen the hbo documentary that's going to appear in may and in it, you said something interesting. you said democrats, this is about texas. they played it too safe or middle of the road. and yet your record in congress

was very moderate and let me run through these things. you voted against nancy pelosi for speaker. you gave president obama fast track authority to negotiate trade deals, a flare point for some on the left. you voted to expand the death penalty to people who attempt to murder law enforcement officer. you've talked about increasing the social security retirement age and means testing of medicare. are these positions going to be an albatross for you in a democratic primary? >> just in the list that you went through, there are some that were clearly mistakes. i don't believe in the death penalty. that was a wrong vote for me to take. >> why did you take it if you don't believe in it? >> you know, threatening the life or taking a life of a law enforcement officer is a serious issue. it should be a factor in the sentencing, but it should not contribute towards receiving the death penalty.

a clear mistake on my part. no two ways about it. >> i'm not asking you to go through the list. just the other day, you spoke to and were challenged in iowa, i think, about a vote you made for that would have made easier drilling in the gulf of mexico. it seems to me that partly what you were doing is voting your district. is that fair? >> i think what i was trying to do is acknowledge that i still drive a truck with an internal combustion engine that runs on gasoline and our energy resources right now, primarily fossil fuel based, have got to come from somewhere. imperfect as we are in extracting those resources, we do a hell of a lot better job than most of the rest of the world. i want to make sure that our energy independence and our national security independence are guaranteed here at home. but i also want to speed the transition off of those fossil

fuels to wind, to solar energy. so that's my commitment. >> you apologized for that vote and it's, you made a pretty good case why in the transition it might be necessary. >> yeah. well, because i think i better understand today, the urgency. i mentioned that at the outset of the interview. i don't know that you can meet this challenge by half measure. i think we really have to be bold. in fact, i know we do, if we're going to ensure that our kids and grandkids who will look back on us from the future to the people of 2019, 2020, i want them to be proud of what we did. there are people in this country who have been not for years, but for decades, warning about this challenge. now many of us, myself included, have finally heard the call and we absolutely have to respond and it is a threat just as, if not more existential than we faced. >> how do you balance the desire for big solutions and, you know, the the practicality of getting them done? the green new deal, medicare for

all. you associate yourself with the spirit of those things, but not necessarily the letter of those things. >> i think you have to identify the problem. you have to lay out the goal. and then you have to do everything you can and it may sometimes be incrementally to get there. i'll give you an example. >> there's a frustration with incremental. >> sure there is. but when you allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good, you may get nothing at all accomplished. i think i've been able to demonstrate, i can work with those on the other side of the aisle and prove that that might be the only or perhaps the best way to get something done. so i think trying to cram it down people's throats is just not going to work. >> you probably saw what president obama said overseas. his concern that this sort of demand for absolutism within the democratic party -- >> we start sometimes creating what's called a circular firing squad where you start shooting

at your allies because one of them is straying from purity. >> did that resonate with you? >> i didn't hear his comments, but i do think we have to be as open as possible, not just to our fellow democrats but independents and republicans. what we were able to do in texas over the last two years is made possible by going to republican communities and listening to their concerns. that's human nature. you want to be heard. and i think when we write people off, because they don't subscribe to the same solution that we do, we're going to get what we deserve, which is their unwillingness to participate in the process or in our campaign. >> is it valuable to be from texas or from the middle of the country rather than one of the coasts? one of the things that happened in the last election, i think, is that we all kind of retreated to our silos and didn't see what was happening on the other side of that silo. is it advantageous for the party

itself to have a candidate who does not come from a dark blue state? >> in this last campaign, we were in archer county, which you may know from larry, when i was going into mearns cafe with the town hall meeting, there were 12 or 13 people. a guy pulls out a photo with lbj and 38, last time a senate candidate came to our community. 70 years since someone has shown up and listened. we, the democratic party have effectively functionally written off so many parts of the country. if democrats don't go to compete, republicans don't have to show up and just bank those votes and go home. those folks effectively are not represented. they're not heard. they don't have a seat at the table. whether you're from texas or whether you're from massachusetts or california, i think it behooves us all to show up everywhere, writing nobody off, take no one for granted. >> implicit in that is criticism of the campaign in 2016. >> i don't know.

all i know is that the campaign i got to be a part of in 2018 was the most powerful experience of my life because so many people were bought into it. >> coming up on "the axe files" -- >> he's made his bet on strong men and dictators and turned his back on our fellow western democracy. canada, mexico, european union, almost inexplicable. behr presents: tough as walls. ♪ that's some great paint. ♪ that's some great paint. ♪ that's some great paint. behr ultra, a top-rated interior and exterior paint. paint, prime, protect - all in one. now that's some great paint! find it exclusively at the home depot.

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relationship with the the african-american community and that plays very large in the democratic race. how do you overcome that? >> you know, i think showing up everywhere, but also showing up for everyone. and it doesn't just mean your physical presence but listening and learning from those who had a far different experience in life than you have. as a white man, who grew up in an upper middle class -- >> talking about white privilege, growing up in white privilege. >> absolutely. growing up in an upper middle class household, recognizing some communities didn't have any access to capital, literally written out of the ability to participate in our economy. it's not something i experienced and the only way i'll even begin to understand it is to listen to those who had that experience. the tlargest prison population n the face of the planet, disproportionately comprised of people of color. in some cases, possession of a

substance like marijuana illegal or criminalized in most states of the country. ensuring that everyone's story is part of the american story, the good, the bad, and the very ugly and shameful as well, and also in the way that i campaigned and not just doing it in certain communities. if it's an all-white audience in iowa, talking about these very same issues. >> donald trump himself, he's going to play big in this race. i think ten minutes after you made your first announcement, he was commenting on your hand gesture. >> i think he's got a lot of hand movement. never seen so much hand movement. >> how do democrats generally deal with a president right in the middle of their primary nominating process? >> i just think you stay focused on the reason that you entered the race in the first place. the people who comprise the campaign, those whom you want to serve and the people you want to deliver for. in new hampshire recently, the woman slid across the table her

receipt for the medication. $10,000 a year after my co-pays kick in, 3 pills a day. i take 1 or 2 to stretch it out as long as possible. she doesn't want me to respond to donald trump. she doesn't want me making fun of him or descend into the petty or the personal politics. she wants me to focus on making her prescription medication affordable. and so if we lose sight of why we're running and the people for whom we run, then, you know, we're going to get more donald trump going forward. >> so the caricatures kind of stick, don't they? little marco, stuff like that. >> he's good at that stuff. >> did you find yourself restraining hand gestures? >> we were at a house party the same day. we were going from event to event and i haven't had time to watch the news so i don't know. just know i love your hands, this woman said.

you have got to be you. >> are you going to release your tax returns? you're a person of wealth. your wife comes from a very wealthy family. this has become an issue because the president is the first president since richard nixon not to release tax returns and senator sanders under pressure because he didn't do it in the last campaign. do you think candidates should and will you? >> yes, and yes. and in addition, it should be u.s. law that every president releases their tax returns. we have a right to know how our presidents receive their income, where there may be revealed or perceived conflicts of interest and better and informed decisions. by the same token, everyone running for the presidency should release their tax returns and i'll do. in fact, working with amy and our team to get those released as soon as possible. >> let me ask you this. do you think president trump is in some way mortgaged to russia? why is he so reticent about

calling putin out on trying to game our elections and so on? >> i don't know that we fully understand the answer to your question. as every american is, i'm very much looking forward to reading the full mueller report, but his comments on that stage in helsinki, finland, next to vladimir putin, george will, the little pundit, conservative one at that, said if you were concerned about collusion, the president's performance in helsinki was collusion in action, defending vladimir putin who had sought to undermine our democracy, instead of our intelligence community and the united states. in the philippines, el-sisi, erdogan in turkey, kim jong-un, who our president said he's falling in love with. so he's made his bet on strong men and dictators and turned his back on our fellow western democracy. canada/mexico, the european

inexpoliticab inexpoliticabinexplicable. >> you at one point called for impeachment and then backed off. >> to be clear, i never called for impeachment. i had been asked as a member of the house of representatives if articles of impeachment were before me, would i vote for them? i said yes. whether you follow george will's logic about his attempt at collusion or if you were concerned about obstruction of justice, the principal investigator in 2016 or the president tweeting as attorney general jeff sessions to end the russia investigation, very clear to me that our president tried to stop our ability to understand what had happened to the world's greatest democracy. >> so the defining moment of truth. >> you wouldn't have brought it up? >> i never shy away from a direct question. when asked by a reporter, that was my honest answer. y i cannot help but come to the

conclusion that the president has committed impeachable offenses. >> at this point, that seems remote. >> at this point, not only is remote. it doesn't seem in any way politically feasible. so our focus has got to be november of 2020. and then beyond that, january of 2021. >> michael cohen, when he testified privately before the house intelligence committee, this has leaked. he said he believed that the president would resist if he were not elected in 2020. is that a real concern? >> just know this, our current president will stop at nothing to maintain or accrue more power. asking the government of russia to produce hillary clinton's emails as a candidate or on election day in el paso, texas, the greatest turnout in the entire state of texas in 2018

calling for border patrol crowd control exercises in a community that's 83% mexican american. we're sending 5500 u.s. service members over at war, half a world away to the u.s. mexico border at a time of record security and safety. it's not just his ret hetorirhe, caging of children and things he's trying to do to undermine our democracy and country. i understand how grave this threat is that he poses, but i also understand that feeding him cannot alone be our strategy. it has to beco coming together around the things we want to aqi. t -- achieve. despite the fact i love being here in my hometown, and i'm so grateful that amy and i get to raise ulis seises and molly and henry. i will be in iowa and new hampshire and nevada and south carolina and the other states of

this country trying to make the case we can do far better as a country than we're doing now. this is our defining moment of truth and we cannot be found wanting. up next on "the axe files" -- >> somewhere around 6 million jobs depend on what crosses through these bridges right here. >> so if this guy closed down -- >> you'll close down the u.s. economy. this time, it's his turn. you have 4.3 minutes to yourself. this calls for a taste of cheesecake. philadelphia cheesecake cups. rich, creamy cheesecake with real strawberries. find them with the refrigerated desserts.

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fact that el paso is one of the safest cities in the country because there's a culture of mutual respect. >> this is the crossing to juarez, mexico, and how free is that crossing now? how interconnected are the communities? >> this is a stanton street bridge. there are five other bridges that connect to juarez. 32 million lawful crossings just like these folks going over right now. every year between el paso and juarez, 20% of all u.s./mexico trades. so not just el paso's economy but the u.s. economy, somewhere around 6 million jobs depend on what crosses through these bridges right here. >> so if this got closed down? >> you'll close down the u.s. economy, absolutely. and you will, by definition, make us less safe because those cbp officers who are there, they're the ones who inspect every one and everything that comes into this country. if you don't have that inspection, there's still going to be some folks passing through who we will not know what

they're bringing with them or if they have status or if they should be in the united states of america. >> this was a different kind of border and a different crossing when you were a kid growing up. >> yeah. >> tell me how it changed. >> after 9/11, and certainly after the the secure fence act of 2006, you really saw an almost militarization in border communities like ours. and beyond -- >> unnecessary, you think? >> unnecessary. >> talked about tearing down walls. do you still feel that sfwway? >> i do. but some places, physical barriers make sense and we've always had them on the border, but military grade 30 foot high steel slat and concrete, you know, concrete base, that's new. and it's really, one, unnecessary, it has not improved our safety and the safety declined after the construction

of the wall here in el paso. >> really connected in some way? >> you know, i think when you introduce greater fear and distrust in a community, fewer people are willing to work with local law enforcement because they think their immigration may become the focus instead of the crime they're trying to prevent or reports. so yeah, security can come through immigration reform, investments at our ports or treating people with respect. these ice round-ups and calling mexicans rapists and criminals, makes us less, not more safe. >> what about the sentiment of disbanding ice? >> i don't think it makes sense, but i think it's coming from a good place, which is these internal enforcement measures. bad under president trump. bad under president obama. in one year rounded up and

sent back to their countries of origin. breaking up families in the process. if the intent was to purchase a little political will in order to get comprehensive immigration reform, it obviously didn't work. so i think we need to make sure that the two are understood to be one and the same. if you do move forward with immigration reform, you get security as a natural by-product of that. so we don't need to do these internal round-ups, but there does need to be an agency responsible for the enforcement of our immigration laws internally, when people do pose a violent threat to others in our communities. >> as we look at the bridge at crossing the border, the president has essentially forced the resignation of his department of homeland security kirstjen nielsen indicating he wants a tougher policy. what's your reaction to all of

that? >> what he has done in the name of this country, taking kids from their parents after they survived a more than 2,000 mile journey, some of it on foot, some of it atop a train known as the beast, arriving here at their most desperate and vulnerable moment, deporting that mom back to the very country she fled and then putting that kid in a cage, you would like to think it's un-american, but it's happening in this country. not only must we follow our own asylum laws, he's clearly breaking. not just in the way he's treating these asylum seekers but preventing them from lawfully seeking asylum at this port of entry. here's what he's going to do. whether this is the intent or not, he's going to cancel out half a billion dollars in aid to guatemala, honduras and el salvador. that's going to make the problem even worse and a greater flow of people heading north, coming here, that no wall or militarization or policy is going to stop. they're desperate, doing exactly

what i would do if my kids were in the same danger their kids are right now. so instead, we should be investing even more in the northern trial of not military equipment but violence reduction and prevention in those communities. where we've been successful in doing that, we've seen a net decrease in outflow. >> you've been in the business of politics. do you think he sees an advantage in torquing up the crisis? >> donald trump is the arsonist who gets the credit for putting out the fire. he's going to cause worse migration and asylum seeking by cutting off all u.s. aid and wants to be the person who gets the credit for stopping it. what we need is someone who will not play games or politics with people's lives or the security of this country, but will invest in the smart decisions and policies like investing in central america to stop the outflow before it even begins. we can try to address these

problems at the u.s./mexico border with walls or open arms or address them in the countries of origin before they become a problem and that's what i want to do. >> the president says the country's full. that was his message to immigrants who went to the border and because you have traveled around quite a bit and you have traveled through all kinds of communities in this country, you know that there is a certain resonance to that with some americans and some voters. >> you know what? i haven't found that, actually. i was just in storm lake in iowa, talking to mexican immigrants who came to work at the tyson's plant that no one born in storm lake is working at right now. and they're investing in the success of that community and the people in that community get it. revitalizing rural america in part depends on ensuring that immigrants can find a home in rural america. our success as farmers, as an economy, as a country, as a democracy is necessitated upon new people coming in to reinvigorate the country.

>> he says he's going to make immigration a centerpiece of his campaign. and your answer is, bring it on. >> absolutely. there's this community of el paso, juarez, why it makes us safer and why it creates more jobs. so i'm looking forward to sharing that message and talking about safety and economic growth and jobs in a positive way that includes all of us. >> ahead on "the axe files" -- >> must have been an unbelievable moment when you got the news he was gone. >> yeah. yeah. ♪ i think i found my dream car. it turns out they want me to start next month. she can stay with you to finish her senior year? of course she can! [ laughter ] [ groaning ] hey! want to drive?

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your dad was this larger than life figure. he was a big deal. an elected official.

>> still a big deal in my head. he died in 2001. was a county commissioner elected in '78 and then in '82, elected county judge and then never met a stranger and still so many years after his death, i can't count how many people have come up and said, your dad was my best friend. he had so many best friends. loved life. got the best out of every minute of it. and took a true joy in being with people and politics and he saw that as not only a very high calling, and a noble purpose, but a hell of a lot of fun. >> but you didn't have that great relationship with him when you were a kid. >> as a little kid, yes, as a teenager, he was tough on me. he didn't know what planet i was living on. i didn't know why he couldn't get it. and we really had, you know, some friction. >> you went to prep school. that was your choice. >> my choice. i wanted to get out of my house,

away from my dad. i also wanted to get out of el paso and see the rest of the world. you know, i got that distance and i think i got that perspective and then coming back after working in new york for a few years and getting to see him again now as an adult, we really connected. i'm a lapsed catholic and i do not go to mass as often my mom would have me go to mass but something very special and i feel faded in the last night he was alive. it was just my dad and i. we drank a bottle of wine together. eight leftovers out of the fridge and talked about life, my life, the years we had been disconnected, about what the future might hold and the next morning, he was hit by a car and killed instantly. i feel like i was supposed to have that conversation. >> that must have been unbelievable moment when you got the news he was gone. >> yeah. yeah. >> i went through my myself. i lost my father at an early age

and it was indescribable, almost hard to conceive of him not being here. >> it took me a very long time and my life can tell you that it is still happening to be able to understand and accept that. but, you know, perhaps in a positive way to look at this, he's alive in me. >> what advice would he be giving you now? >> he's be telling me to lighten up, to have fun. to not take myself seriously. he would love this. >> one other question about him that is a difficult one which is, he had a scandal. you were here at that time. a young kid. some powdery substance found in his county car. evidence disappeared, case was never really resolved.

but it effectively ended his political career and it was big news here in el paso. >> i remember that. headlines on the "el paso times". >> how old were you then? >> i would have been 12. >> how did you process that? >> so my dad in '74 bought a toyota land cruiser, brand-new. and it was the truck he was driving in '84. he was on a trip on county business and left his land cruiser parked in the county parking garage and as he always did, doors unlocked. probably windows rolled down. sheriff's deputies found a bag in the glove box as they were installing a cb radio and found a powdery substance. cocaine, heroin, something else i don't know because they flushed it down the toilet. so my dad's assertion was that somebody planted that in there or stashed it in there, that it

was not his. who knows what the truth is. i would believe him. >> were you? >> oh, sure. i'm in sixth or seventh grade at the time, and your dad on the front page of the paper for having what may be cocaine in his car, that wasn't a lot of fun. >> this isn't a great introduction to politics. at that moment? did you see yourself going into politics? >> i remember coming home from columbia in my sophomore or junior year and telling my dad who had taken out these loans for me to be able to go to school that i was going to be an english major and the look on his face of why would you want to do that and i wanted to read and i wanted to write, i wanted to teach. that's what i wanted to do. i didn't want to be around people. i didn't want to be shaking. so many events, just walking into a donut shop. he said, go shake that guy's

hand. that was my entire life and i wanted none of it. and the headlines and all that stuff. and yet, here i find myself. and i find myself doing what i am so grateful to have the chance to do. i love being with people. >> you weren't in the class president or the debate society but the cult of the dead cow which were a group of kind of computer geeks and hactivists that really spawned in the internet space. how much to help inform your success? >> sixth grade, my folks gave me an apple 2e and a 300 vod modem and i'm dialing in to other people's computers on phone lines. that was the internet at the time. it was thrilling to me to be

accepted by this world of people whom i'd never met and probably would never meet who lived all over the world. and i wasn't particularly coordinated or athletic or popular or, you know, into the latest trends or fashion. i was a skinny awkward jockey kid who wore high water jeans my mom bought me and then in an online community where i was accepted regardless of how i looked or athletic i was or was not based on what i could write or the way i could connect with people. and it was a very powerful precursor to the internet. showed me the way you could connect with people in that way. >> you spent about 7 years in new york. you were with your punk rock band mates. you were a nanny. and then you came back. you had this incident. you were involved in a drunken driving incident. >> yeah. so it was my birthday in 1998. i had just moved back and i was

drinking and i made the choice to drive drunk. and so there's nothing that can justify or excuse that. and i was arrested. >> you hit >> i hit a car. >> went over a -- >> spun and landed in the median of interstate 10, with a woman who had been out with me that night, a date. and no one was harmed. >> you didn't try and run away? >> we did not try to flee the scene. i don't know that either of us would have been capable of fleeing the scene. spent the night in jail, went to court, was on probation for a number of months, went to the classes that you have to go to, had my license revoked. but what i have since realized

is that that incredibly poor judgment, that really grave mistake on my part did not end up defining my prospects. and there are so many people in this country, so often people of color, arrested for offences far less serious. possession of marijuana. so, one, it has helped me to understand the disparity and treatment based on race in this country. two, it is part of the public record as it should be. >> announcer: up next. >> with a there ever a moment when you looked in the mirror and said, wait a second, am i ready to be the leader of the free world? >> yeah, absolutely. i wonder if you don't ask yourself that question, whether everything's okay in your head. every day, visionaries are creating the future. so, every day, we put our latest technology and unrivaled network to work.

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into your xfinity x1 voice remote. or as j-lo likes to call it, your v-mo. the race against ted cruz in 2018, you began as this obscure congressman from el paso, not well-known even in the state of texas. you became this national figure. you raised $80 million, much of it online. this incredible energy behind your campaign. and then it's over. you lose, you lose narrowly, did better than any democrat had in 25 years. and you've said that it kind of put you in a funk. >> yeah. yeah, you come down. i came down after we defeated sylvester reyes. i remember having breakfast with amy the next day at crave on

cincinnati street in el paso, i was like, why am i so bummed right now? we had just won this race that no one had expected us to pull off. you're going a million miles an hour, and the inertia, it takes you a while to get your bearings again. i knew what my purpose was every second of every day of that campaign. now the campaign is over. what am i supposed to do right now? >> how did you go through the process of arriving at running for president? was there ever a moment when you looked in the mirror and said, wait a second, am i ready to be the leader of the free world? >> yeah, absolutely. and i wonder if you don't ask yourself that question, whether everything is okay in your head. >> you talked about being the son of a politician and how hard it was for you. your kids, particularly your oldest son ulysses, struggled with your absence. how much of a break was that on you in trying to decide whether to run for president, how you're

going to manage that? >> initially, as we were considering this, it was the full break, we were not going to do it. and we knew almost without saying it to each other that it would just be too hard on our family and on our kids to run. but a couple of things happened. in the months after the november election in 2018, we were struck by the resiliency of our kids. without ever bringing the subject up to them, surprised by how often they raised it themselves. and the other even far more compelling reason was that when we decided to run for senate in 2018, it was because in large part we feared the judgment of our kids. at some point they're going to look back on us and they'll judge us based on what we did or failed to do. nothing about that has changed. and in fact it has only become more urgent.

and so really for those kids this is our moment of truth. and we wanted to make sure, we want to know we've done everything we can. for us, it is serving in this way. >> i should note, you bicycled over here. you like to drive yourself on the road. your family has its freedom right now. this is a big sacrifice. is it worth it? >> absolutely. far more important than our privacy is the future of this country. and the ability for you'll you' ulysse sxhch ulysses and molly and harry. i really get the sense from some of the questions they asked us as they're making this decision, they're there, they get it, that gives me cause for optimism. >> well, beto o'rourke, so good to be with you. good luck to your family and good luck to you out on the

road. >> thank you. thanks for having me on. i really appreciate it. to hear more of the conversation, go to itunes.com/axefiles. it's 8:00 eastern, 5:00 in the afternoon out west. i'm ana cabrera in new york. you're live in the cnn newsroom. we have breaking news on cnn, two children in texas now confirmed dead after at least two powerful tornadoes touched down there today. this huge line of storms raked east texas today, devastating several small towns. on the phone with us now, we're going to go to ivan cabrera standing by in the cnn weather center. we'll come back to someone on the phone to tell us