GOP Former Rep. Will Hurd Announces He’s Running For President
Former Texas congressman Will Hurd announced Thursday (June 22) that he's joining the field of at least a dozen other candidates competing for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Hurd, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2015 to 2021, told CBS Mornings that he and his wife decided to make this political move after realizing “we live in complicated times,” pointing to challenging issues such as education, inflation and the rise of China as a global competitor.
"These are the issues we should be talking about. And to be frank, I'm pissed that we're not talking about these things," he said.
Hurd, 45, is a moderate Republican who doesn't shy away from criticizing his own party.
"I believe the Republican Party can be the party that talks about the future, not the past," Hurd said. "We should be putting out a vision of how do we have unprecedented peace, how do we have a thriving economy, how do we make sure our kids have a world class education, regardless of their age and location?”
If the polls are correct, Hurd is a longshot to win his party’s presidential nomination. Former President Donald Trump, despite his legal problems, leads the packed field with 52.5 percent, according to FiveThirtyEight’s aggregated primary poll figures. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a distant second with 21.3 percent.
Unlike most of his rivals for the nomination, the San Antonio, Texas native appears unafraid to anger the party’s base who are diehard Trump supporters.
"You can't be afraid of Donald Trump. Too many candidates in this race are afraid of Donald Trump, but we also have to articulate a different vision," said Hurd, a former CIA officer who criticized Trump for his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the White House.
Federal prosecutors charged Trump June 13 with 37 felony counts related in the case. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
While in Congress, Hurd, whose father is Black and mother White, sided with Democrats on several issues, including voting against the Republican effort to repeal Obamacare.
