Former moderate Texas GOP Congressman Will Hurd announces presidential campaign

WASHINGTON (TND) — Former Congressman Will Hurd, R-Texas, became the lucky number 13th Republican candidate to enter the 2024 presidential race Thursday.

Hurd, who in 2019 was the lone Black Republican in the House, entered Congress in 2015 representing Texas’ 23rd district, which stretches from the Western suburbs of San Antonio along 550 miles of the U.S. border with Mexico to El Paso. He gained national attention in 2017 when he and his fellow – relatively – young Texas House member Beto O’Rourke livestreamed their 1,600 miles road trip from San Antonio back to D.C. following a snowstorm that left them stranded in the Lone Star state.

“This is a decision my wife and I decided to do because we live in complicated times and we need common sense,” he said on CBS News Thursday morning.

There are a number of generation-defining challenges that we’re faced with in the United States of America, everything from the Chinese government trying to surpass us as the global superpower [to] the fact that inflation is persistent when technologies like artificial intelligence are going to upset every single industry and our kids; their scores in math, science and reading are the lowest they’ve even been in this century,” he added.

A former undercover clandestine officer for the CIA – and the only public office seeker to be endorsed by former CIA director and Defense Secretary Robert Gates – Hurd was declared the “future of the GOP” by Politico Magazine in 2017.

“I’ve been involved in Republican politics for over 30 years, and Democrats should be worried about Will Hurd,” then-Texas GOP Chairman Tom Mechler told the publication. “The sky is the limit. This guy is incredible.”

Gates, who was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama upon his retirement as Defense Secretary, shared Mechler’s appraisal of the then-second term Hurd. “Will is the only person I have ever formally endorsed — period,” he emphasized to Politico.

I have served eight presidents over a 50-year period,” he added. “And I think it’s premature, but what I would say is he has the character and the integrity and the leadership skills for higher office.

Known as a moderate – to such an extent that a pro-Trump PAC campaign sent out a memo criticizing Hurd for his “RINO” voting record Thursday – Hurd was known to vote mostly on party lines but also stick out for major pieces of legislation like the Equality Act. He also did not shy away from criticizing then-President Donald Trump over issues like the border wall or the Muslim ban.

Hurd demonstrated his disdain for the presidential frontrunners of both parties in an announcement video posted to social media.

President Biden can’t solve these problems [like inflation, crime and the fentanyl crisis] or won’t. And if we nominate a lawless, selfish, failed politician like Donald Trump – who lost the House, the Senate and the White House – we all know Joe Biden will win again,” he said.

“Republicans deserve better. Americans deserve better,” he added, tacking on a refrain of “it’s common sense” to mirror his remarks on television Thursday morning.

He followed up his video post on Twitter with a more explicit messageattacking Trump and highlighting alleged negative influence the former businessman has exuded on the nation.

I'm sick and tired of Donald Trump lying to us. Whether you like him or not, he turned Americans against each other. You know it, and I know it,” he said. “He couldn't even beat Joe Biden, and now no one is taking him on and offering a vision for the future. That's why I'm running.

Most of the Republican candidates in the race are trying to run more against Biden than against Trump, who largely remains popular among GOP voters. But Hurd joins Christie and Hutchinson in his willingness to criticize Trump and the former president's continued hold on the national Republican Party.

Hurd says he's out to redefine the contours of the 2024 race and told NBC's “Meet the Press” in May that the prospect of another election pitting the current president against the former one would be “the rematch from hell.” On Thursday, he called himself a “dark horse candidate" and said that the only way to win is to “not be afraid of Donald Trump” and that “we also have to articulate a different vision.”

Hurd opted not to seek reelection to the House in 2020, saying then that he preferred to “pursue opportunities outside the halls of Congress to solve problems at the nexus between technology and national security.” Last year, he traveled the country on a tour to promote his book, “American Reboot: An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this report

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