News Happy New Year to Beto O'Rourke's Annual Beard Here's what O'Rourke has been up to since dropping out of the presidential race. By Kimberly Truong Kimberly Truong Kim Truong is a writer focusing on news, entertainment, and culture. She is a graduate of Fordham University. Her work has appeared on The Cut, Self, Refinery29, and BBC America. InStyle's editorial guidelines Published on January 2, 2020 @ 11:57AM Pin Share Tweet Email Now that Beto O'Rourke has dropped out of the presidential race and — at least for the time being — retired from breaking out his Spanish language skills at the debates, he's free to let loose, which for him, seems to mean growing out a full-fledged beard. In a video from December that made the rounds on Thursday, O'Rourke encouraged voters to help flip the Texas House to help Democrats take control of the state legislature. And it was during that effort to make historic change that people realized the former Texas representative was now a proud grower of facial hair. The beard may not be new — a cursory glance at his Instagram shows it's been making appearances all over Texas since at least mid-December — but it is the first time some people are taking notice of it. In fact, the beard even has its own Twitter account, which is most likely not officially affiliated with O'Rourke in any way, though one can dream. And upon further investigation, the beard also made a more muted appearance back in January of 2019, leading us to believe that this is an annual, post-holidays grooming (or non-grooming) choice. The First Democratic Debate Is Over — But the Memes Have Only Just Begun Love it or hate it, the beard is here to send a big message: flip the Texas house.