One of America’s most rockin’ politicians has been spotted at a Texas Metallica concert, as rumours of his presidential bid have begun to swirl.
If you’re a follower of US politics and music, then there’s an incredibly strong chance that you might have heard of Beto O’Rourke.
A former congressman in the US state of Texas, O’Rourke has been making headlines for quite a while now, thanks in part to his love of music, and his own musical history.
Back in September, we spoke about how Beto O’Rourke had been in a band with At The Drive-In’s Cedric Bixler-Zavala back in the early ’90s. Named Foss, the group didn’t exactly go too far, releasing a handful of independent records and touring North America before breaking up.
Since then, O’Rourke has managed to not only drop lyrics from The Clash in one of his speeches, but he’s been filmed air-drumming to The Who, and has even scored the support of artists such as The National and Willie Nelson.
Now, as rumours have begun to swell about whether O’Rourke – who recently lost the race for Senate in 2018 – will be announcing his run for the presidency, the rockin’ representative has been spotted at a Metallica concert.
.@BetoORourke is in attendance at the @Metallica concert at #UTEP tonight. Could he announce is Presidential bid here?? It is the last day of the month after-all. 🤘🏻#beto2020 #2020elections #OnAssignment #elpaso #ept #beto pic.twitter.com/hn2wsYppU2
— Ivan Pierre Aguirre : 🥑 (@i_p_a_1) March 1, 2019
As the El Paso Times reports, Beto O’Rourke was spotted turning up at Metallica’s El Paso concert on February 28th In photos from the event, he can be seen not only posing for pictures with members of the audience, but also jamming out like any other fan.
As some fans at the concert mused, this might have been a way for O’Rourke to announce that he was running in the 2020 presidential race, with the politician recently revealing he had made a decision in regards to his political future.
In the wake of O’Rourke’s senatorial loss last November, At The Drive-In’s Cedric Bixler-Zavala shared out a heartfelt statement in support of his former bandmate’s political intentions.
“I don’t care if [you] lost,” Zavala wrote. “You made them tremble with the simple prospect of real change. You are one of us. I have nothing but respect and admiration for you. I’m in tears. I can only hope you run for president.”
“Keep filming. Keep challenging. Keep fighting,” he urged. “Keep accountability lit under their feet. Keep showing them your bullet scars. Keep showing them the cages. Keep reminding them they work for us. Keep reminding them that we are all part of the human condition.”
“Nothing but mad respect to Beto’s family for going out there with him.”
At this stage, it remains to be seen whether Beto O’Rourke will indeed run for president, but if we can get him to enlist Albuquerque mayor Tim Keller as his running mate, America might have one hard-rockin’ political future on its hands.
Check out Metallica performing ‘One’ in El Paso, Texas:
