The only black Republican in the House of Representatives, Will Hurd (R-TX), is retiring at the end of his term.
“I have made the decision to not seek reelection for the 23rd Congressional District of Texas in order to pursue opportunities outside the halls of Congress to solve problems at the nexus between technology and national security,” he said Thursday.
Hurd leaving Congress
Hurd’s district lies on the border of Texas between San Antonio and El Paso. He is the third Texas Republican and the sixth nationally in recent weeks to announce his retirement, joining former Texas Reps. Pete Olson and Mike Conway.
Democrats sought to paint Hurd’s retirement as having been driven by Trump’s rhetoric and a blue shift in the state. The Republican has said that Trump’s rhetoric is alienating minorities from the Republican party. And Democratic strategists are interested in targeting Texas amid demographic shifts that are re-shaping the electorate.
“Like we said last week, Republicans across the Lone Star State are terrified of losing their seats in 2020 and Will Hurd just joined the list,” a DCCC statement said. “Hurd has been a lockstep supporter of the worst of Washington Republicans’ policies and he sealed his fate when he pledged to vote for Donald Trump in 2020. Democrats will win this seat and if Will Hurd doesn’t believe he can keep his job in a changing Texas, his colleagues must be having second thoughts too.”
Hurd narrowly won re-election in 2016 and 2018 in a district that has flip-flopped between Republican and Democrat, and which Hillary Clinton carried. He said that he left his job as a CIA agent to work on national security issues in Congress, which he joined in 2014.
“While Congress has a role in these issues, so does the private sector and civil society,” he said. “After reflecting on how best to help our country address these challenges, I’m leaving the House of Representatives to help our country in a different way.”
Trump critic
Though he didn’t cite the president as his reason for leaving, throughout his tenure, Hurd showed an uneasiness with being a Republican in the party of Trump. While Hurd said that he will vote for Trump in 2020, the Texas congressman has often broken with the president, particularly on immigration. Hurd called Trump’s border wall a “third-century solution” and he voted against Trump’s national emergency declaration to divert Pentagon funds to build it.
In recent weeks, Hurd was one of four Republicans to vote to censure Trump for his comments suggesting that the “squad” — including minority Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib — to “go back” to the “crime infested places” they came from. In an interview with the Washington Post this week, Hurd criticized Trump’s “go back” comments, as well as his description of Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings’ Baltimore district as “rat infested.”
“When you imply that because someone doesn’t look like you, in telling them to go back to Africa or wherever, you’re implying that they’re not an American and you’re implying that they have less worth than you,” Hurd said.
Hurd has urged Republicans in Texas and nationally to diversify their ranks. He said on Twitter that he plans to stay “involved in politics to help make sure the Republican Party looks like America.”
I’ve taken a conservative message to places that don’t often hear it. I’m going to say involved in politics to help make sure the Republican Party looks like America.
— Rep. Will Hurd (@HurdOnTheHill) August 2, 2019
“I think the Republican Party should be a broad party. I shouldn’t be the only African-American Republican in the House of Representatives,” Hurd said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
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