Two representatives from Texas, whose flights back to Washington, D.C. were cancelled due to the East Coast winter storm on Tuesday, decided to take a road trip back to the Capitol.
The Washington Post‘s Katie Mettler chronicled how Congressman Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat from El Paso (and possible Senate candidate), and Congressman Will Hurd made the 1,600-mile journey. Mettler noted that “O’Rourke, who had spent Monday in San Antonio talking to veterans with Hurd, proposed a radical idea: a cross-country road trip, broadcast live via Periscope and Facebook for all of America.”
Rep. Hurd, a black Republican from San Antonio, balked at first, but finally agreed to the “town hall meeting on wheels.”
The bipartisan duo answered questions — from the less-serious (cake vs. pie), to important policy issues — from their Periscope/Facebook audience, as they drove across multiple states.
The Post reporter disclosed that “at first, the men seemed stiff, exchanging pleasantries and biographies.” However, just a few hours later, “they felt like old friends, the kind that belt Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring of Fire’ off tune, criticize each other’s driving, mock Whataburger drive-through orders, and indulge on doughnuts at midnight in Memphis.”
Congressman Hurd made light of his previous career as former CIA officer during one stop on their journey. His Democratic colleague apparently took too long during a stop at a gas station. The
The two politicians didn’t make it all the way back to the District according to the original plan, so they stopped for a few hours of sleep in Nashville. But before the made it to their hotel, they made a stop at a famed donut shop near Memphis, where they greeted customers.
[image via screengrab]