Does Beto O'Rourke blog post hint at presidential run?

A long and romanticized blog post about a snowy Washington, D.C. jog is stirring up rumors that former U.S. Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke is already thinking about 2020.

O’Rourke wrote in the post on the website “The Medium,” quoting the only other American to lose a Senate race and win the presidency two years later, Abraham Lincoln.

The post contained passages like: “I walked over to the north wall and read Lincoln’s second inaugural address. My body warm, blood flowing through me, moving my legs as I read, the words so present in a way that I can’t describe or explain."

SMU political science professor Cal Jillson said the post doesn’t just keep people thinking about O’Rourke, there’s symbolism there as well.

“What he wants to do is stay in people’s imagination,” said Jillson, “You can’t do that if you go home to El Paso and lick your wounds.”

In the days leading up to the midterms, O’Rourke denied he had ambitions of running for president but politicians often change their minds.

Jillson notes that O’Rourke might have a different race to focus on in 2020.

“My sense is that a run against John Cornyn is something that he might actually accomplish,” said Jillson, “He has a future. Whether that's running against Cornyn in 2020 or running for the presidency.”