Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke announced on November 1 that he would be ending his campaign for the 2020 presidential race, just two days after visiting Newtown.

Mr O’Rourke had been invited to town by the Newtown Action Alliance (NAA) to talk with local gun violence prevention activists and members of the community for a private event that was conducted at the Newtown Community Center on the evening of October 30.

After his stop in Connecticut, he continued touring the country for his campaign, but in Iowa, he revealed to his supporters that he would be dropping out of the 2020 presidential race.

“This is a campaign that has prided itself of seeing things clearly and on speaking honestly and on acting decisively. We have to clearly see, at this point, that we do not have the means to pursue this campaign successfully. My service will not be as a candidate nor as a nominee of this party for presidency,” Mr O’Rourke said in Iowa.

He went on to add, “We were the campaign to propose the boldest set of solutions to the epidemic of gun violence in this country.”

NBC News reported that Mr O’Rourke had been lagging in the polls and with fundraising and had not yet qualified for the November 20 Democratic debate, sponsored by MSNBC and The Washington Post.

Following the news of Mr O’Rourke ending his presidential campaign, Po Murray, chairwoman of the NAA and The Newtown Foundation, told The Newtown Bee, “Mr O’Rourke did not advise us at the public meeting or at a private meeting that he was dropping out of the presidential race. We found out when the public was made aware.

“At both meetings, he made a promise that he would always make gun violence prevention a priority as an elected official or as a private citizen. He told us he feels very positive that we will see change in the near future, because he has met with voters from both sides of the aisle who support life-saving policies to end gun violence.

“We would love to see Mr O’Rourke run against Senator John Cornyn, who has stood with the NRA to block gun control bills even after Sutherland Springs, Santa Fe, El Paso, and Midland/Odessa mass shooting incidents.

“After securing a gun safety majority in the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm election, we have been able to pass some gun control measures in the House. Unless we elect a gun safety president and a majority in the Senate, then it will be extremely challenging to pass a set of comprehensive life-saving bills that we desperately need to end all forms of gun violence in our nation.”