DES MOINES, Iowa — Beto O’Rourke has held more than 150 town halls since announcing his presidential campaign.

On Tuesday, it showed.

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Appearing on CNN for the first televised town hall of his campaign, O’Rourke enlivened an audience at Drake University with a presence that he has practiced for two months — sometimes in front of hundreds of supporters, sometimes only a few.

Though he’s slumped in polls, his performance served as a reminder of why O’Rourke was able to galvanize Democrats in his near-upset of Sen. Ted Cruz last year. He has an uncommon command of a stage — and an increasingly precise policy platform.

For 70 minutes, O’Rourke interacted with voters and projected the same varied ideological profile that has allowed him to appeal to both moderate and progressive Democrats — but also invite criticism from across the political spectrum.

He called, as he has before, for legalizing marijuana and expunging the records of people arrested for possessing it. He said he would impose an abortion litmus test on judicial nominees to ensure that “every nominee to every federal bench, including the Supreme Court, understands and believes the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade is the settled law of the land.”

But O’Rourke stopped short of supporting efforts to boycott spending money in states that pass restrictive abortion measures, saying his “alternative solution” is to encourage more women to run for office to “change the composition of these state legislatures.”

He called for universal background checks for people who buy guns and a ban on the sale of “weapons of war.” But he sidestepped a question about whether he supported Sen. Cory Booker’s proposal to require licenses for all gun owners, saying, “I think that’s something that we need to look at.”

“We should have a full hearing on that, and if it makes sense to the American public, then let’s move forward.”

But it was Trump, more than any rival Democrat, that O’Rourke took on Tuesday, seeking to present himself as a credible challenger to him. He called for Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings against the president. And when asked if pursuing impeachment could help Trump solidify his base — a concern of many Democrats — O’Rourke said, “I understand the political implications of this.”

“But I think this moment calls for us to look beyond the politics and the polling, and even the next election,” he said. “It’s the very sanctity of the ballot box, and the very future of the world’s greatest democracy. And if this is important to us, and I think it is, then we need to look past those short-term consequences to the consequences to the future of this country.”

He said, “It’s the only way that we’re going to get to the facts necessary to have that accountability and justice.”

It was fitting that O’Rourke sought to jump-start his presidential campaign at a town hall moderated by CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash. She also moderated the CNN town hall last year at which O’Rourke, then a candidate for Senate in Texas, insisted he had no plans to run for president, even if his Senate run fell short.

In the seven months since, O’Rourke changed his mind, became an instant front-runner, fell behind in public opinion polls and finally — seated beside Bash on Tuesday — sought to reboot his campaign.

Before the debate, O’Rourke insisted he wasn’t troubled by polls or the possibility that he could be competing for support with the Democratic front-runner, Joe Biden, or South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

“In terms of the assessment, who the hell knows this far out from the first caucuses or elections,” O’Rourke told reporters on Tuesday. “There’s so much time, so many people to meet. So many highs and lows that every single candidate is going to experience. So, I really am not concerned about that.”

Bash and the audience at Drake University were largely accommodating, focusing heavily on policy and allowing O’Rourke to ask his questioners themselves the kind of follow-up questions that he often asks in smaller venues.

The night started, however, with a tease.

“Nice haircut,” Bash said when O’Rourke came on stage, a reference to O’Rourke’s livestreaming recently of a visit to his barber shop in El Paso, Texas. “So, if you make it to the White House, what else will you be livestreaming?”

O’Rourke’s intent, he said, was to showcase his hometown and his immigrant barber — “to help tell the American story.”

“This is a country of immigrants and asylum seekers and refugees from the world over,” he said. “Nothing to be afraid of, everything to celebrate.”

The crowd regularly applauded O’Rourke, and by the end of the town hall, O’Rourke was left wanting more. He invited supporters to go to his website to “ask me any question that you want to, and I will do my best to answer each and every single one of those.”

“That level of accountability will make me a better candidate, and I hope a better president for you and others.”

The CNN town hall has become a fixture of the 2020 campaign, providing candidates a national platform ahead of the first Democratic primary debate next month. It is viewed as significant by presidential campaigns not only for the viewership, but for the moments of video, captured on a presidential-looking stage, that a candidate can repackage for use on social media and in fundraising appeals.

O’Rourke was raising money off of the appearance even before he arrived in Des Moines, urging supporters to help him reach a goal of 25,000 new donations by the end of the month. O’Rourke, who raised $9.4 million in the first quarter of the year, declined to provide an update on his more recent fundraising prior to the town hall.

The former Texas congressman said he had prepared for the event by thinking “about some of the questions that will come up.”

For the most part, the answers O’Rourke gave were similar to ones he has shared before. And it could be unclear for several days how significant a benefit he will derive.

His campaign, however, was elated.

“THIS is the @betoorourke that voters have seen at 154 and counting town halls in this campaign; and many more in Texas: listening, thoughtful, detailed, and focussed on bringing people together,” his campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon, said on Twitter. “So glad America is getting to see for themselves tonight.”

It was a defining image of the 2016 Republican National Convention: Ken Cuccinelli throwing down his credentials in disgust after failing to secure a rules vote that could have complicated Donald Trump’s nomination.

Cucinelli had led the delegate operation for Trump’s chief GOP rival, Sen. Ted Cruz. Three months earlier, Trump’s convention manager, Paul Manafort, had accused the Cruz team of engaging in “Gestapo tactics” to win over delegates. “This is disgusting,” Cuccinelli said after his call for a vote was rebuffed.

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Many Trump allies have never forgotten the chaos on the 2016 convention’s first day. So some of them were surprised to learn that a president notorious for holding grudges is likely to tap Cuccinelli to help oversee the administration’s immigration policy, a core issue of Trump’s presidency.

But White House officials and other allies of the president said Tuesday that Trump is aware of Cuccinelli’s past, and has nonetheless come to admire him.

“Trump doesn’t dwell on stuff like that,” said a Republican close to the White House. “That’s what he has supporters for.” A White House spokesman did not respond to requests for comment about how the president views Cuccinelli’s actions at the convention and his role on the Cruz campaign.

White House officials said Trump was planning to tap Cuccinelli for a senior position at the Department of Homeland Security, though his exact responsibilities and title remain unclear, raising questions about how he’ll fit into the White House’s decision-making process on immigration policy.

The 50-year-old Cuccinelli had previously been mentioned as a candidate for an immigration “czar” position the White House has considered to help coordinate border policy across federal departments and agencies. Another candidate for that job, former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, fell out of favor after The New York Times reported he had issued a list of demands that would need to be met before he’d accept the job.

Whatever the precise role, tapping Cuccinelli would seem to underscore Trump’s continued impatience with his administration’s progress on implementing hardline immigration policies that led to the recent ouster of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and other senior DHS officials.

Despite his theatrical convention protest before the television cameras, Cuccinelli distanced himself from the “Never Trumpers” at the convention, insisting his call for a vote on the rules was not about bringing down. Unlike the Trump critics who hoped to free up delegates to vote for other candidates, Cuccinelli said he was simply trying to change the rules for future Republican primaries so that only registered Republicans could vote.

“As I said when Ted Cruz got out, I’m going to vote for Donald Trump. I am Never Hillary,” he told Fox Business Network shortly after the spectacle on the convention floor. Cuccinelli did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump has long obsessed over the loyalty of his advisers, keeping track of perceived slights. He has rejected job candidates who have publicly criticized him, and blocked or complained about “Bushies” in his administration — shorthand for people who worked for the George W. Bush administration, of which he has been highly critical.

But there’s no better way to redeem oneself in Trump’s eyes than through public flattery, and Cuccinelli is a cable news regular who defends the president at every turn.

“He’s said positive things about Trump on CNN for two years, so I don’t really think it’s an issue,” former Trump campaign adviser Sam Nunberg said when asked about Cuccinelli’s past.

A White House official downplayed reports that Cuccinelli would serve as an immigration “czar,” signaling that he’s being considered for a more narrow position. Policy czars are typically based out of the White House, where they oversee issues across multiple departments.

How much influence Cuccinelli would have over the administration’s immigration agenda remained to be seen — particularly given that two of Trump’s most senior White House advisers, Stephen Miller and his son-in-law Jared Kushner already play major roles on the issue.

Two people familiar with the matter said Miller, known as a fierce bureaucratic infighter, supports the decision to hire Cuccinelli.

Cuccinelli’s pending hiring is intended in part to reassure White House and DHS officials concerned that acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan isn’t aggressive enough to address an ongoing border migration crisis, according to another person familiar with the situation. McAleenan, who took over for Nielsen after her April resignation, has brought in several officials from Customs and Border Protection that his critics believe are not ideologically aligned with Trump’s hard-nosed approach to immigration.

“What is unclear is what kind of authority Cuccinelli will have,” the person said.

Thomas Homan, the tough-talking former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Fox News regular, admitted in an interview to being “a little confused” by Cuccinelli’s job. But he stressed that he thinks he’s a good choice. “I like Ken Cuccinelli,” he said. “I think he was a good attorney general. He’s pro-immigrant enforcement.”

Cuccinelli has spoken to Trump and other administration officials about the role in recent days, one of the White House officials said.

Though Trump has long weighed hiring an immigration czar, administration officials have wrestled with exactly how much power the person should have and whether the person should be based at the White House or within a federal agency. “The debate was where the position would sit,” a person close to DHS said. “There needs to be better coordination with the agencies.”

Cuccinelli served as Virginia’s attorney general from 2010 to 2014, gaining national attention for suing the Obama administration over the constitutionality of its federal health care overhaul. After losing Virginia’s 2013 gubernatorial race to Democrat Terry McAuliffe, he subsequently became a cable news regular.

As attorney general, Cuccinelli took a series of controversial actions, including advising public colleges that they didn’t have to adopt nondiscrimination policies protecting gay people and accusing a climate science of fraud.

As a member of the Virginia legislature previously, Cuccinelli pushed to revoke citizenship rights for children of illegal immigrants who are born in the U.S. and protected employers who fire employees for not speaking English.

Cuccinelli’s new role is unlikely to require Senate confirmation — something he might have trouble winning. A political action committee he led, the Senate Conservatives Fund, backed primary challenges to several prominent Republican Senators, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The president has spoken to a number of associates in recent weeks about joining the administration to help coordinate immigration policy.

He recently offered the job to Homan, two people familiar with the situation said. But Homan turned down the position because it didn’t come with enough authority, two people familiar with the situation said. Homan has also told associates that he’s reluctant to rejoin the administration because of threats to his family he received when he was at ICE.

Homan, who had been mentioned as a possible replacement for Nielsen, declined to confirm the job offer, saying his conversation was merely about his advice for structuring the immigration position.

Michael Neifach, who worked for former President George W. Bush, was also approached about the job last year, a former administration official said.

It’s unclear whether the White House is still searching for somebody to fill the immigration czar role. But some people close to the administration say Trump still needs one.

“You need a point of contact for all government’s response — not just a policy person but someone who will coordinate the response,” Homan said.

Gabby Orr contributed to this story.