Former Texas Rep. Will Hurd suspends long-shot GOP 2024 presidential bid, endorses Nikki Haley
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Republican Texas congressman Will Hurd suspended his presidential bid on Monday and endorsed fellow GOP main candidate Nikki Haley, formally abandoning a short marketing campaign constructed on criticizing Donald Trump at a time when his social gathering appears much more decided to embrace the previous president.
“Whereas I admire on a regular basis and power our supporters have given, it is very important acknowledge the realities of the political panorama and the necessity to consolidate our social gathering round one particular person to defeat each Donald Trump and President Biden,” Hurd wrote on X, the platform previously generally known as Twitter.
He added that Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations beneath Trump and governor of South Carolina, “has proven a willingness to articulate a unique imaginative and prescient for the nation than Donald Trump and has an unmatched grasp on the complexities of our overseas coverage.”
Hurd was the final main candidate to hitch the already crowded Republican main discipline when he introduced his run in late June. He leaves the race barely three months later, after failing to achieve traction as pragmatic average who pledged to guide the social gathering away from Trump’s “Make America Nice Once more” motion. Hurd did not qualify for each the primary GOP debate in Milwaukee in August and the second debate the next month in Simi Valley, California.
“America is at a crossroads and it’s time to return collectively and make Joe Biden a one-term president,” Haley wrote on X in response to Hurd’s endorsement. “Thanks @WillHurd in your help and confidence. We’ve a rustic to save lots of!”
Hurd ending his marketing campaign follows one other Republican candidate, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who grew to become the primary presidential hopeful to droop his marketing campaign shortly after failing to make the primary debate stage.
Hurd wasn’t invited to the Milwaukee occasion after falling wanting Republican Nationwide Committee minimums on help within the polls and enough numbers of donors to his marketing campaign.
Hurd was initially defiant about lacking the primary debate, arguing that the Republican Social gathering blocked him for refusing to signal a pledge for its presidential candidates to help the eventual main winner, even when it was Trump. The RNC requirements are “arbitrary, unclear, and lack consistency. That is an unacceptable course of for a presidential election,” he mentioned in a press release.
When he didn’t make the second debate, Hurd caught a unique tone, writing on X that “we narrowly missed the minimize for the second debate and our marketing campaign is at an inflection level.”
A clandestine CIA officer who labored in Pakistan, Hurd served three phrases within the Home by way of January 2021 and was the chamber’s solely Black Republican throughout his ultimate two years in workplace. He represented Texas’ then-most aggressive district, which was closely Hispanic and stretched from the outskirts of San Antonio to El Paso, encompassing greater than 800 miles of Texas-Mexico border.
Hurd opted to not search reelection in 2020, saying he was pursuing alternatives exterior Congress “to unravel issues on the nexus between know-how and nationwide safety.” Final yr, he traveled the nation selling his e book “American Reboot: An Idealist’s Information to Getting Massive Issues Performed.”
The 46-year-old has lengthy been a fierce Trump antagonist, even encouraging the then-Republican presidential nominee to go away the 2016 race when the “Entry Hollywood” tape by which Trump brags about sexually assaulting girls was made public within the ultimate weeks earlier than Election Day.
Hurd hoped to resonate with voters searching for a pro-business Republican with a robust nationwide safety background who was additionally unafraid to hunt bipartisan consensus. He introduced his candidacy criticizing each Biden and Trump, saying the president wasn’t as much as securing the U.S.-Mexico border, combating fentanyl smuggling that has led to epidemic of American overdoses and violent crime and homelessness within the nation’s cities.
“President Biden can’t remedy these issues — or gained’t,” Hurd mentioned in his announcement video. “And, if we nominate a lawless, egocentric, failed politician like Donald Trump — who misplaced the Home, the Senate, and the White Home — everyone knows Joe Biden will win once more.”
Hurd stepped up his public criticism of Trump as the previous president was repeatedly indicted and now faces 4 separate felony circumstances and 91 whole expenses. Trump nonetheless holds a fundraising benefit and commanding lead in early main polls.
Because of this, Hurd’s few memorable moments as a White Home candidate got here when he was heckled by Republican crowds after repeating assertions that Trump, ought to he clinch the GOP nomination, would lose the final election to Biden.
“Donald Trump is operating to remain out of jail,” Hurd declared at a July GOP dinner in Iowa. When sustained booing adopted, he responded, “Hear, I do know the reality is difficult.”
