O'Rourke says he and his wife are descendants of slave owners

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke said Sunday that he and his wife Amy O’Rourke are descended from slave owners.

“Something that we’ve been thinking about and talking about in town hall meetings and out on the campaign — the legacy of slavery in the United States — now has a much more personal connection,” O’Rourke wrote in an email to supporters and in a post on the publishing platform Medium.

The former congressman from El Paso disclosed the news at roughly the same time The Guardian published a story saying it had informed the candidate of his ancestral ties. O'Rourke told The Guardian he was unaware of the ties before the publication contacted him.

O’Rourke’s paternal great-great-great grandfather owned two slaves, Rose and Eliza, in the 1850s, and a great-great-great grandfather on his mother’s side may have owned slaves as well, according to O'Rourke. He also said that ancestry documents given to him showed that Amy O’Rourke has an ancestor who owned slaves and another who served in the Confederate Army.

"They were able to build wealth on the backs and off the sweat of others, wealth that they would then be able to pass down to their children and their children’s children. In some way, and in some form, that advantage would pass through to me and my children," O'Rourke said.

“I benefit from a system that my ancestors built to favor themselves at the expense of others,” O’Rourke continued. “That only increases the urgency I feel to help change this country so that it works for those who have been locked-out of — or locked-up in — this system.”

The presidential candidate emphasized his proposals to address funding disparities in “minority-majority public schools,” invest in minority and women-owned businesses, support universal healthcare and home health visits for women of color and increase "police accountability."

Both O’Rourke and fellow Texas presidential hopeful Julián Castro have said they back a resolution by U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston that would “establish a commission to study and consider a national apology and proposal for reparations for the institution of slavery.”