HURD SUSPENDS BID FOR REPUBLICAN NOMINATION
Ex-congressman endorses Haley in 2024 primary race
Former Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, suspended his presidential bid on Monday and endorsed fellow GOP primary candidate Nikki Haley, officially abandoning a brief campaign built on criticizing Donald Trump at a time when his party seems even more determined to embrace the former president.
“While I appreciate all the time and energy our supporters have given, it is important to recognize the realities of the political landscape and the need to consolidate our party around one person to defeat both Donald Trump and President Biden,” Hurd wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
He added that Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump and governor of South Carolina, “has shown a willingness to articulate a different vision for the country than Donald Trump and has an unmatched grasp on the complexities of our foreign policy.”
Hurd was the last major candidate to join the already crowded Republican primary field when he announced his run in late June. He leaves the race barely three months later, after failing to gain traction as a pragmatic moderate who pledged to lead the party away from Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement. Hurd failed to qualify for both the first GOP debate in Milwaukee in August and the second debate the following month in Simi Valley.
“America is at a crossroads and it’s time to come together and make Joe Biden a one-term president,” Haley wrote on X in response to Hurd’s endorsement. “Thank you @WillHurd for your support and confidence. We have a country to save!”
Hurd ending his campaign follows another Republican candidate, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who became the first presidential hopeful to suspend his campaign shortly after failing to make the first debate stage.
Hurd, 46, served three terms in the House through January 2021 and was the chamber’s only Black Republican during his final two years in office. He represented Texas’ then-mostcompetitive district, which was heavily Latino and stretched from the outskirts of San Antonio to El Paso, encompassing more than 800 miles of Texas-Mexico border.