Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke said he's not interested in President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris' help in his bid to be the Lone Star state's next governor as the pair continues to grapple with plummeting poll numbers.
O'Rourke broadly rejected getting help from any 'national politician' during a press conference on Friday where he was asked whether he'd want the president to campaign for him ahead of November's gubernatorial election.
'I’m not interested in any national politician -- anyone outside of Texas -- coming into this state to help decide the outcome of this,' the former US Representative said according to the Dallas Morning News.
'I think we all want to make sure that we’re working with, listening to and voting with one another here in Texas.'
The military veteran, who previously launched unsuccessful bids for US Senate in 2018 and president in 2020, is campaigning to unseat incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott.
While he side-stepped naming Biden or any other national Democrat, O'Rourke did take a veiled shot at his party's failure to pass federal voting legislation last week.
'No one in Washington DC right now can help us with the challenges that we have. This one is on all of us,' he said.
He vowed to take on the fight over US elections himself, pledging his campaign would contact 2 million Texas voters during the month of February to discuss how the state's new election security bill affects their ballot.
O'Rourke made the comments during a press conference on Friday after he was asked if he'd accept Biden's help in his bid to unseat Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott
O'Rourke's rejection comes as both Biden and Harris began the new year with the same ailing approval ratings that have plagued much of their first year leading the country.
According to FiveThirtyEight's daily Biden popularity tracker, an average of 42.3 percent of voters across multiple surveys approve of his job in office.
His average disapproval, above 50 percent since October, is 53.4 percent.
Harris is faring even worse in terms of approval, with an NBC News poll released on Sunday having 32 percent of respondents viewing her somewhat or very positively.
However she does appear to have fewer detractors than her boss, with just 49 percent viewing Harris somewhat or very
