Patterico's Pontifications

8/1/2019

Rep. Will Hurd Will Not Seek Reelection In Texas

Filed under: General — Dana @ 7:40 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Rep. Will Hurd, the only black Republican in the House of Representatives, has announced his retirement from Congress:

We are in a geopolitical competition with China to have the world’s most important economy. There is a global race to be the leader in artificial intelligence, because whoever dominates AI will rule the world. We face growing cyberattacks every day. Extreme poverty, lack of economic opportunity and violence in Central America is placing unbearable pressure on our borders. While Congress has a role in these issues, so does the private sector and civil society.

After reflecting on how best to help our country address these challenges, 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.

…

I’m leaving the House of Representatives to help our country in a different way. I want to use my knowledge and experience to focus on these generational challenges in new ways. It was never my intention to stay in Congress forever, but I will stay involved in politics to grow a Republican Party that looks like America.

From his announcement, this strikes me as both a great need and a soon-to-be great void upon Hurd’s departure. Kudos to Hurd for being pro-active and doing what so many Republican officials shy away from because they just don’t see the point. Hurd, though, always saw the point:

As the only African American Republican in the House of Representatives and as a Congressman who represents a 71% Latino district, I’ve taken a conservative message to places that don’t often hear it. Folks in these communities believe in order to solve problems we should empower people not the government, help families move up the economic ladder through free markets not socialism and achieve and maintain peace by being nice with nice guys and tough with tough guys. These Republican ideals resonate with people who don’t think they identify with the Republican Party. Every American should feel they have a home in our party.

Gold:

My philosophy has been simple. Be honest. Treat people with respect. Never shy away from a fight. Never accept “no” or the status quo and never hesitate to speak my mind.

About speaking his mind, Hurd did just that last month when he took Trump to task for his tweets about the four Democratic congresswomen. Hurd explained how the president’s racist tweets made it more difficult for him to take conservatism into communities that traditionally go Democrat:

“I think those tweets are racist and xenophobic. They’re also inaccurate,” he said.

“Look, I’m the only black Republican in the House of Representatives. I go into communities that most Republicans don’t show up in order to take a conservative message,” he also said, adding, “This makes it harder in order to take our ideas, and our platform, to communities that don’t necessarily identify with the Republican Party.”

Hurd said it is “concerning to me that there are people that think that’s OK, that kind of behavior’s OK” when asked if he was surprised why so many Republicans have not spoken out about Trump’s tweets.

Asked why the President “keeps doing this kind of stuff” and if he thinks Trump is racist, Hurd said, “Well, you’d have to ask him those questions. But the comments were indeed racist.”

According to some, the wave of retiring Republicans isn’t over yet. And that’s what has them worried:

Over the past two weeks alone, five six Republicans — including a member of the Republican leadership team — said they would not seek reelection. And that comes after Rep. Susan Brooks of Indiana, who leads recruitment efforts for the House GOP’s campaign arm and is one of the few Republican women left in the House, shocked her colleagues by announcing her retirement earlier this summer.

“Will there be more retirements? Most certainly there will be, for a range of reasons,” said Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-Mich.), who announced his own retirement last week.

You can read more about how Hurd’s retirement will impact the 23rd district in the battlefield state here.

As with the retirement of Rep. Pete Olson, this too seems like a gift to the Democrats:

Huge news for Dems: Rep. Will Hurd (R) to retire in 2020. He’s probably the only R capable of holding the seat. #TX23 moves from Toss Up to Lean D at @CookPolitical.

I’ll end with this from Rep. Mitchell:

Mitchell, however, pointed to an entirely different reason for his retirement: He is fed up with the increasing polarization in Congress and with some of Trump’s divisive rhetoric and tweets, which Republicans are asked about on a near-daily basis.

“It is demoralizing to watch the gridlock that happens,” Mitchell said. “Absolutely demoralizing.”

My guess is that Hurd would nod his head in agreement.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

35 Responses to “Rep. Will Hurd Will Not Seek Reelection In Texas”

  1. What a statement full of depth and richness:

    Two centuries ago, I would have been counted as three-fifths of a person, and today I can say I’ve had the honor of serving three terms in Congress. America has come a long way and we still have more to do in our pursuit of a more perfect union. However, this pursuit will stall if we don’t all do our part.

    Dana (fdf131) — 8/1/2019 @ 7:43 pm

  2. Classy.

    nk (dbc370) — 8/1/2019 @ 7:47 pm

  3. This may sound too cynical, but

    order to pursue opportunities outside the halls of Congress to solve problems at the nexus between technology and national security.

    suggests another recruit for K Street.

    Kishnevi (72bb0b) — 8/1/2019 @ 7:51 pm

  4. Congressmen don’t retire. They cash in.

    Munroe (4bb078) — 8/1/2019 @ 8:27 pm

  5. Well that road trip witb o’Rourke didnt work out

    Narciso (72d34b) — 8/1/2019 @ 8:29 pm

  6. Hurd said he planned to vote for Trump in 2020
    He also said he was interested in pursuing other public office

    steveg (354706) — 8/1/2019 @ 9:21 pm

  7. Another quitter purged.

    Ein volk, ein Amerika, ein Trump.

    DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/1/2019 @ 9:28 pm

  8. Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer?
    Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!

    nk (dbc370) — 8/1/2019 @ 9:31 pm

  9. Not a good sign for the GOP that Will Hurd is retiring, two weeks after “go back” and one week after Trump lying about Cummings’ district.

    Paul Montagu (abf2de) — 8/1/2019 @ 10:45 pm

  10. nk (dbc370) — 8/1/2019 @ 9:31 pm

    Ahahahah- ack!!!

    felipe (023cc9) — 8/1/2019 @ 10:50 pm

  11. My guess is that, if he tweets anything about Hurd, Trump will say that Hurd is a low IQ, pro-amnesty open borders loser.

    Paul Montagu (abf2de) — 8/1/2019 @ 11:25 pm

  12. Hurd marks the third Republican from Texas in the House to announce he’s not seeking re-election next year. The stated reasons for his decision indicate that he’s not comfortable with the direction the party is moving toward under Trump.

    Gawain's Ghost (b25cd1) — 8/2/2019 @ 2:45 am

  13. I have faith in the great people of Texas to replace Mr. Hurd with a patriotic well versed conservative.

    mg (8cbc69) — 8/2/2019 @ 2:50 am

  14. I think Texas will be a toss up in 2020. Trump is not popular here.

    DRJ (15874d) — 8/2/2019 @ 3:02 am

  15. Texas 23 will probably go Democrat because of Trump.

    DRJ (15874d) — 8/2/2019 @ 3:03 am

  16. sigh.

    mg (8cbc69) — 8/2/2019 @ 3:39 am

  17. Have cowardice Californians ruined Texas like they did Oregon and Washington, DRJ?

    mg (8cbc69) — 8/2/2019 @ 3:41 am

  18. Texas 23 is on the border and is historically Democratic, mg. Hurd worked very hard to reach out to people there and connect with them, but the detention center problems will make it very hard for Republicans to win. Border folks typically have traditional values but they care about migrants, too.

    Do you have a link for your claim about Hurd, steveg?

    DRJ (15874d) — 8/2/2019 @ 4:09 am

  19. It was in the #FakeNewsBezosPost, DRJ: https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/texas-rep-hurd-lone-black-republican-in-house-wont-seek-reelection/2019/08/01/0927745c-b487-11e9-8949-5f36ff92706e_story.html?utm_term=.ee4b20fb9c2f

    But Hurd also repeated his earlier pledge to vote for Trump if he’s the Republican nominee in 2020. He said Hispanics, African Americans and other groups would be receptive to conservative themes if they weren’t drowned in racially charged rhetoric.

    nk (dbc370) — 8/2/2019 @ 5:20 am

  20. Thanks, nk. I should have been more clear because what I don’t recall seeing is that Hurd is “interested in pursuing other public office.” Did I miss that somewhere?

    DRJ (15874d) — 8/2/2019 @ 5:36 am

  21. Cornyn’s seat? As for the TX state offices, better to have tried to stay in TX-23 until ’22 (which despite recent court cases mentioned a few day ago here may be altered dramatically in redistricting for the ’22 election anyhow).

    urbanleftbehind (df798e) — 8/2/2019 @ 5:42 am

  22. I did not see that either, DRJ.

    nk (dbc370) — 8/2/2019 @ 5:47 am

  23. The detention center program exacerbated by dems screwing around.

    https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/07/sometimes-donald-trump-now-more-than-ever/

    Narciso (72d34b) — 8/2/2019 @ 6:11 am

  24. Mexico was staging an incursion if not an invasion, and too many reps were looking away, with the only exception is whether they could blame trump, maybe instead of the road trip with o’Rourke Hurd could have said or done something productive

    Narciso (72d34b) — 8/2/2019 @ 6:54 am

  25. Hurd ony narrowly won re-election in 2018.

    And besides, now hes in the minority, and members of the minoroty party in the House of Representatives can’t do very much (except maybe for stopping things because there are not enough votes for itin the Democratic caucus,)

    Sammy Finkelman (e806a6) — 8/2/2019 @ 8:40 am

  26. 24, the shutdown, while it is an opportunity to show ones bonafides in fortifying the border, was also doubly problematic for Hurd – I would wager his district is somewhat of a Staten Island/Mount Greenwood/Simi Valley for Border Patrol and Customs and that any kind of no-B.S. stand also keeps paychecks from coming into the extended households and baby mamas on the ground.

    urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 8/2/2019 @ 9:02 am

  27. I read this and agree: If Will Hurd weren’t such a moral minded, independent thinking man, he might have been nominated to be the new Ratcliffe.

    Dana (fdf131) — 8/2/2019 @ 1:40 pm

  28. the times outright lied about ratcliffe’s part in the prosecution of the holy land foundation, and their connection to cair, a relatively puny minority that Ellison and tlaib genuflects to, which has co sponsored the so called womans march along with the splc, for two years running,

    narciso (d1f714) — 8/2/2019 @ 2:09 pm

  29. Just more evidence that the R’s don’t know how to pick their candidates. The D’s have Congressman who are happy as clams to stay in Congress forever and do politics. R’s always recruit “Mavericks” Or ambitious people who want to move up to better things after putting “Congressman” on their resume.

    If your primary desire is to be elected to Congress as an R and “Reach across the aisle” – then don’t run!

    rcocean (1a839e) — 8/2/2019 @ 2:30 pm

  30. the moderates and cucks are ALWAYS pushing the same ol’ message. We Reublicans need to compromise. OH, the humanity, Congress isn’t working. Its too partisan. Well guess what? Its because of the D’s – why don’t you criticize them?

    And we all know the answer. The D’s don’t care what Bill Kristol, or Moderates, or Mavericks say about anything. You’re on their team or you’re OUT. Only the Center-right, tosses and turns at night over “bi-partisanship”.

    rcocean (1a839e) — 8/2/2019 @ 2:33 pm

  31. we saw the respect fireeye (the people who watched the Equifax hack in real time) showed to congressman hurd, a few weeks back,

    narciso (d1f714) — 8/2/2019 @ 2:36 pm

  32. https://saraacarter.com/ratcliffe-out-as-dni-the-establishment-didnt-want-him-so-it-does-what-it-does-best/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social-pug

    narciso (d1f714) — 8/2/2019 @ 2:44 pm

  33. moderates and cucks are ALWAYS bla bla

    LOL.

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