Ex-representative Hurd seeks GOP nod for president

Will Hurd, a former Texas congressman who was part of a diminishing bloc of Republican moderates in the House and was the only Black member of his caucus when he left office in 2021, announced his candidacy for president Thursday with a video message that attacked the GOP front-runner, former president Donald Trump.

“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, referring to Republican losses in the 2018 and 2022 midterm elections, in addition to Trump’s own defeat in 2020.

Hurd, 45, represented the 23rd District for three terms before deciding not to run for reelection in 2020, when a host of GOP moderates in Congress chose to retire instead of appearing on a ticket led by Trump.

Hurd emphasized in his video that Republicans needed to nominate a forward-looking candidate who could unite the party and country.

“I’ll give us the commonsense leadership America so desperately needs,” he said.

A formidable gantlet awaits Hurd, a long-shot candidate in a crowded GOP presidential field. To qualify for the party’s first debate in August, candidates are required to muster support of at least 1 percent in multiple national polls recognized by the Republican National Committee. There are also fund-raising thresholds, including a minimum of 40,000 unique donors to individual campaigns.

Before entering politics, Hurd was an undercover officer for the CIA and his tenure of nearly a decade with the agency included work in Afghanistan.

In Congress, he developed a reputation for working across the aisle.