As The New Civil Rights Movement recently reported, there is a mass exodus occurring from within Congress – and tonight we have one more person to add to the ever-expanding list: Rep. Will Hurd of Texas.
Hurd tweeted the following Thursday night:
Hurd also prepared a statement, which was released on his website.
“I left a job I loved in the CIA as an undercover officer to meet what I believed to be a need for new leadership in Congress on intelligence and national security matters,” he wrote. “I wanted to help the Intelligence Community in a different way by bringing my knowledge and experience to Congress. 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.”
Hurd’s statement continued, “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.”
Hurd added, “While I have 17 months left in my term, I’m very proud of the last 55. There were times when it was fun and times when it wasn’t. When people were mad, it was my job to listen. When people felt hopeless, it was my job to care. When something was broken, it was my job to find out how to fix it.”
Upon his departure next year, Hurd will leave a void as he was the only black Republican in the House of Representatives. His district covered the southern border in Texas between El Paso and San Antonio. Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones came within half a point of unseating Hurd last year. Democrats have their finger on the pulse on this contentious race leading up to the 2020 Election.
“From San Antonio to Socorro and everywhere in between, Texans are ready for new leadership in Washington and I’m ready to serve,” Ortiz Jones said in a statement Thursday.
With this announcement, Hurd has become the sixth House Republican to resign at the end of his term in the past two weeks – and, to make matters even more interesting, he’s the third from Texas alone. As the New York Times reported, Representatives K. Michael Conaway and Pete Olson of Texas have also announced their retirements, along with Rob Bishop of Utah, Paul Mitchell of Michigan and Martha Roby of Alabama. And two more — Representatives Susan Brooks of Indiana and Rob Woodall of Georgia — made their decisions earlier in the year.
Here are some reactions as of Thursday evening post-announcement: