Beto O’Rourke—the onetime Democratic presidential candidate who is now running against Republic incumbent Greg Abbott to be the next governor of Texas—announced that he has been diagnosed with a “bacterial infection” and after receiving care at the hospital and will postponing campaign events, CNN reported.
“After feeling ill on [Aug. 26], I went to Methodist Hospital in San Antonio, where I was diagnosed with a bacterial infection,” O’Rourke said in a statement. “While my symptoms have improved, I will be resting at home in El Paso in accordance with the doctors’ recommendations.”
The development comes at a critical point in the Texas gubernatorial contest, as O’Rourke looks to narrow Abbott’s lead.
O’Rourke made news recently when he responded to a heckler at a campaign stop with an expletive after the candidate heard a laugh while criticizing the ease with which the Uvalde elementary school gunman legally purchased an AR-15-style rifle, News 6 noted.