Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s (The Mars Volta, At the Drive-In) Old Bandmate is Running Against Ted Cruz For Senate

The Mars Volta/At the Drive-In frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala has a former bandmate that is currently running against former presidential candidate Ted Cruz for a senate seat in Texas. Robert Frances “Beto” O’Rourke currently represents the 16th District of Texas (in El Paso) in the House of Representatives, but in an announcement on Friday he stated he is planning to run against Senator Cruz for one of the state’s U.S. Senate seat.

Before he got himself involved in politics, O’Rourke was the frontman for a punk project called Foss. The drummer of Foss was none other than Bixler-Zavala himself. In a recent interview with The Washington Post, O’Rourke explained why he departed the scene:

“I wasn’t that good at it,” he admitted. And his dad was pressuring him to grow up. “He won’t say it, but the expectation is: We didn’t take out loans for you to go to Columbia and then [play] in a punk band your whole life.”

I guess reality hits us all eventually. Punk may not have been O’Rourke’s destiny but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a great calling. Considering how much animosity is harbored towards Cruz right now, O’Rourke might actually stand a chance at winning. It’s a long-shot, but it’s still a shot.

O’Rourke’s record isn’t flawless. He had a couple of charges brought up against him in his younger days — breaking and entering (1995) and drunk driving (1998) — but those are both incidents he claims to have learned from. His political history is quite solid, on the other hand; I won’t go into all the details but he leans left, wants to help bolster relations with Mexico, and resists lobbyists.

Want to know more about his views? Check out his site right here, and if you dig his message you can volunteer for his campaign right here. As a former Texan myself this definitely matters to me… probably more than it should considering I haven’t lived there in years. I hope y’all inform yourselves and make your own decisions, but even with O’Rourke’s lightly checkered past I think he’s a great option for the future.

You can see his announcement video below:

[via Metal Insider]