No Regrets

Beto O’Rourke ended his run for the presidency on Friday, November 1st. I’m absolutely devastated. I’m stuck as to what I want to do next. I learned about Beto during his senate race and thought maybe one day he’d run for president. Well, once he actually ran, I was totally committed.
When Beto announced he was running for president, I remember immediately signing up to volunteer. I made a a twitter account just to support him, Virginia for Beto, later changing It to my full name. Social media volunteering was ideal for me because of my severe social anxiety. I started talking to people who lived in Texas during the senate race. My account grew quickly, following tons of Beto supporters from across the country. It was amazing.
In April of 2019, Beto made his first trip to Virginia. I found out he was coming during school. I nearly screamed in excitement in the middle of my class. So I texted my mom instead, who would have to endure my incessant Beto stanning for months.
He was coming to Henrico and I immediately decided to go. Henrico is about an hour from my school but I drove there anyway. I got to the hotel about four hours before the town hall. Looking back, I should’ve gotten food before. I had plenty of time. I sat by the room, making sure my phone was charged so I could take a ton of pictures.
I met some people in the lobby that I’m still friends with now. We hung out and went to start the line at the door. Once we got in, I was standing right where Beto was going to be. We waited about an hour before he finally arrived. The crowd went wild. It was like a concert, he was a total rockstar. I truly understood why he was so popular in Texas. It was absolutely amazing.
My Beto stanning went on for months, but I also wanted to make sure that when people would say shitty things about him, I would back up my tweets with facts, as you should. People began the “run for senate” bullshit towards the end of April.
Many candidates knew that Beto was a threat, especially because he didn’t take PAC money and for so many other reasons. Supporters of other candidates constantly pulled this crap. Even on posts that had nothing to do with the presidential race. I truly hit my limit with the senate shit in July, I was so over it, that I just started telling people to fuck off.
On July 12th of 2019, my Beto stanning reached a new level. Feeling angry about the kids who were locked up in cages, I wanted to do something other than tweet, so I decided to attend the Lights for Liberty event in Richmond. I met up with some VA Beto volunteers. The vigil was extremely powerful. After it was over, I drove back to Chesterfield and decided to get food. Beto had just started livestream from NH and I commented that I’d just left a LFL event and I felt inspired by it. Next think I knew, I heard him pause and he said “Schoiler.”
I freaked out because I knew he was talking about me. He thanked me for going to the vigil, I was in total shock. Then I totally felt bad because normally I tell people all the time how to pronounce my name and for whatever reason, I didn’t on the livestream. I guess I didn’t think he would see my comment. I knew if I ever got the chance to meet him, I would tell him about that.
Then came August 3rd. A domestic terrorist drove to El Paso, Texas and killed 22 people in his home town. And where I have extended family. He was in Vegas when it happened and went back as soon as he could. I cannot imagine how he felt. The day after the shooting, he was bombarded by press and by stupid fucking questions. “Is there anything in you mind that a president (Trump) can do better?” He infamously said “members of the press, what the fuck?”
His leadership in the days following the shooting told me one thing;
- Beto was a true leader. He was acting like a really president should, not tweeting stupid shit every minute.
On August 31st 2019, I finally got to meet Beto. I remember being a little bit nervous but as soon as we started talking, the nerves went away. I was laughing, had the biggest smile on my face.

I got to meet Beto again in October in Fredericksburg. He remembered me. I was also wearing the same outfit I wore in August but still! I told him my name and started talking about Hamilton. He hadn’t seen it, and he totally should! He then said “it was nice to see you Schuyler!” I nearly fangirled in front of him. But I kept my composure. We then got to talking a it different things. I told him I had extended family in El Paso and then even invited me to hand out with him if I was ever in El Paso. We talked about my thesis. I’m doing mine on bots and their responses to certain topics. I think he knew the nasty comments that he got on his tweets were bots. He even thanked me for doing it because the government sure as hell isn’t. I think we talked for over ten minutes. It felt more like three minutes but it was longer. My friend and I went to canvass and I hugged Cynthia. Beto was talking with some other people, so I said bye to him and we left. Easily the best day of my life so far. I’ll never forget it.
And so I guess all good things must come to an end. Beto announced that he was dropping out of the race. I was absolutely heartbroken. He was the only candidate who I thought could be trump. He ran an amazing campaign. Through my tears, I sent him an Instagram message thanking him. I knew it would be likely that he didn’t respond but it felt right to do that. Fast forward to four days later, and I still don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m extremely sad. I feel empty. I’m most likely going to be working on local campaigns because I don’t care about the presidential race anymore. Time will tell.
Throughout the last 7 months, I’ve made so many friends because of our support for Beto. I’m grateful for my time as a Beto volunteer. I would do it all over again. I have absolutely no regrets.
