Beto O’Rourke, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, spoke about his campaign platform and answered questions at the M-Shop Wednesday. 

O’Rourke, a former congressman from El Paso, announced his presidential bid in March. O’Rourke’s most recent experience in electoral politics was narrowly losing a senate race to Ted Cruz, R-Texas. He entered the venue wearing an Iowa State baseball hat, having worn both University of Northern Iowa and University of Iowa hats on a previous visit to Iowa.

“I like how it’s very broad how he answers questions, it wasn’t just that we need to fix climate change, it was we need to fix climate change for the economy, for jobs, for people of color who are disproportionately affected by it,” said Taylor Blair, junior in industrial design and president of College Democrats.

In his 2018 senate race, O’Rourke won 8 percent of Republican voters, according to a CNN exit poll.

John Wilkin, senior in finance, said he caucused for Republican candidate Sen. Marco Rubio in 2016 and voted for independent conservative Evan McMullin in the general election. Wilkin said he may vote for O’Rourke depending on who else enters the race for president, saying he could maybe vote for independent Howard Schultz if he enters the race. 

According to a recent YouGov poll, 14 percent of 18 to 29 year olds said the environment is the most important issue to them and 11 percent said education is.

O’Rourke mentioned his children when he discussed the dangers the planet faces from climate change.

“They will be look back on this moment in 2050 when Ulysses [O’Rourke’s 12 year old son], won’t even yet be my age, and they’ll either be proud as hell,” O’Rourke said. “Or they will condemn us for what we failed to do when we still had the chance.”

On the topic of education, O’Rourke said he would work to make college tuition free. 

“I think there is a case to be made to wipe some or all of that debt clear,” O’Rourke said of existing student loan debt.

A member of the audience who identified themselves as a civil engineering student asked, “As you know the infrastructure in America is rapidly failing, I want to know if you were elected president how would you propose to fix that problem?”

O’Rourke said there are $4 trillion in outstanding infrastructure needs in this country right now.

One of the problems O’Rourke mentioned was the lack of broadband in rural communities, saying a parallel to a fix for this lack would be the Rural Electrification Administration of the 1930s. 

“Try finishing your education without the internet, or starting your business, or looking for a job or finding a date on tinder,” O’Rourke said.