Beto O'Rourke switches to Spanish for his first answer
David Schmidt
Published Apr 11, 2026
When asked whether he supported a marginal tax rate of 70% on top earners making more than $10 million a year, O’Rourke began his response in English.
“This economy has got to work for everyone and right now we know that it isn’t, and it’s going to take all of us coming together to make sure that it does,” he said.
He then switched to Spanish, saying, “We need to include each person in the success of this economy. But if we want to do that, we need to include each person in our democracy. Each voter, we need the representation, and each voice, we must listen to.”
He then reverted back to English for the rest of his remarks.
O’Rourke made some notable errors, however. For example, he used masculine adjectives to describe “economy” and “democracy," which are feminine nouns in Spanish and he used the verb “to vote” before correcting himself and using the Spanish word for "voter."
