Will Hurd enters presidential race seeking GOP nomination, criticizes Donald Trump
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On Thursday, former Texas congressman and Central Intelligence Agency officer Will Hurd announced he’s running for the Republican nomination for president, and he directly criticized frontrunner and former President Donald Trump.
“The soul of our country is under attack,” Hurd said in a campaign video. “Our enemies plot, create chaos, and threaten the American Dream.” He said some of the problems Americans face are illegal immigration, fentanyl, inflation, crime and homelessness.
“President Biden can’t solve these problems, or won’t,” Hurd said. “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 again.”
Describing himself as “a modern Republican voice,” Hurd said his experiences over the last twenty years have shown him “this election has never mattered more.”
“I believe the Republican Party can be the party that talks about the future, not the past,” Hurd told CBS News, as he announced his run. “We should be putting out a vision of how do we have unprecedented peace, how do have a thriving economy, how do we make sure our kids have a world class education, regardless of their age and location? We can do this.”
Hurd told CNN he wouldn’t sign the GOP presidential debate pledge. When setting up primary debates, the RNC has stipulated if candidates want to qualify to appear on stage during the debates, they need to pledge to support whoever becomes the Republican presidential nominee, per The Associated Press.
“I am not in the business of lying to the American people in order to get a microphone, and I’m not going to support Donald Trump. And so I can’t honestly say I’m going to sign something even if he may or may not be the nominee,” Hurd said to CNN.
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Who is Will Hurd?
The former congressman served in the CIA in countries such as Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and others for almost a decade, according to San Antonio Express-News.
In 2014, Hurd won his first election in the 23rd District of Texas against incumbent Democratic Rep. Pete Gallego. He won re-election in 2016 and 2018 and then didn’t run for reelection in 2020, per Politico. He said he left his congressional seat to help the GOP diversify its candidates.
“I am interested in helping other candidates like me. I think I want to see a Republican Party that has more folks that look and sound and operate like I do,” he said to Major Garrett on Face the Nation, per Politico.
What does Will Hurd’s legislative record look like?
While a representative, Hurd was the primary sponsor of seven bills that were enacted, according to GovTrack. Some of the bills included “Strengthening and Enhancing Cyber-capabilities by Utilizing Risk Exposure Technology Act” and “To amend title 5, United States Code, to expand law enforcement availability pay to employees of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations.”
Hurd voted in favor of the FUTURE Act, which “permanently authorizes funding for minority-serving institutions of higher education and increases the authorization of appropriations for Pell Grants.” He also voted for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020, which sought to limit qualified immunity as a defense and prevent racial profiling, among other things.
He also voted in favor of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which was a government funding bill. The bill also included stimulus provisions for the COVID-19 pandemic.
There have been times Hurd has voted across party lines, like when he voted against repealing the Affordable Care Act and supported universal background checks for gun purchases, per Texas Tribune. He’s been critical of Trump with regards to the Access Hollywood tape and the border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Overall, he mostly votes with Republicans, including on Trump’s 2017 tax cut bill and in opposition to Trump’s first impeachment in 2019, per San Antonio Express-News.
Hurd has opposed measures like increasing the federal minimum wage to $15, a 2019 attempt to restore parts of the Voting Act, bans against drilling off of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts as well as restoring net neutrality, according to FiveThirtyEight.
The field of GOP nominee hopefuls includes Hurd, Trump, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Asa Hutchinson, Tim Scott, Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum and Francis Suarez, according to NPR.
