Beto O’Rourke ended his Texas campaign for Senate as a true maverick on Tuesday night, dropping an uncensored f-bomb live on national television in an address to his supporters.
“I’m so fucking proud of you guys,” O’Rourke, addressing those who worked on his campaign, said to thunderous applause. “Everybody who worked on this campaign, every volunteer and ambassador, everyone who knocked on doors, everyone who made phone calls, everyone who allowed themselves to hope and believe, to be inspired by one another and to turn it into action and into votes.”
The popular Democrat, hailed as a new face of the progressive movement in America, wasn’t able to surmount Republican Sen. Ted Cruz on Tuesday, but he delivered an impassioned concession speech that focused heavily on the groundbreaking network of support that helped fuel his bid for Congress.
Cruz had attempted to shame O’Rourke’s language throughout the campaign, even releasing a 30-second mashup of the Democrat swearing at events while warning Texans that the lawmaker’s rallies were not a “great place to bring the kids.”
The language was met with some awkwardness during the night’s live broadcasts. MSNBC anchor Brian Williams issued a terse apology after the network aired the speech, saying “sorry for the f-bomb” and noting that they didn’t have any “control of what’s in the concession speeches.” C-SPAN also aired the clip live and uncensored, according to reports.
O’Rourke didn’t seem to care as he spoke Tuesday, visibly exhausted and emotional.
“I love you more than words can express, and that love will persist every day going forward, making sure whatever we have created and changed, and all of us will decide what that means and how far it goes, that it leads to something far greater than what we have today and that everything one of us continues to believe and made possible the greatness of the United States of America,” O’Rourke said. “I am honored to have been able to do this with you and grateful. We will see you down the road.”