It’s beginning to look a lot like 2015. The Republican presidential primary field grew again today. Former congressman and CIA intelligence officer Will Hurd of Texas announced his candidacy on CBS’s morning show.
BREAKING: Former Texas Rep. @WillHurd announces he’s running for president on CBS Mornings, joining 11 other GOP primary candidates. https://t.co/pk05n5ceEv pic.twitter.com/mLrebFY5hf
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) June 22, 2023
Then there were 12. Donald Trump is a happy man right now. An ever-expanding Republican field benefits his chances of winning the Republican nomination. Have Republicans learned nothing since 2015? The Republican bench is wide and very talented but some of the latest entries have to realize that they are going nowhere fast. Why not push their egos aside and let those with stronger possibilities of getting the nomination move forward?
The first Republican debate will be on Fox on August 23. Does Hurd have the ability to raise 40,000 unique national donations by the RNC’s deadline? How about the requirement that a candidate receive above 1% in three national polls or two national polls and a state poll. And the final requirement is to receive donations with at least 200 unique donors per state or territory in 20+ states and/or territories. Can someone with little name recognition outside of Texas do that in two month’s time? Others with names known to most Republican households are struggling to meet the basic requirements, like Chris Christie.
The lane he hopes to dominate is the moderate lane. That’s Christie’s territory or Asa Hutchinson’s territory and we see the kind of slog it is for them. Are Republican primary voters, dominated by the base of the party, in the mood for a moderate candidate? So far I haven’t seen any indication of that. The base is rallying around Trump over the partisan persecution by DOJ or are moving toward DeSantis as he becomes more well-known around the country. Trump still holds a solid lead in the polls but it’s nowhere near time to write-off DeSantis or maybe one of the others. It will be hard for DeSantis to catch-up unless the indictments and court time Trump faces start to cause enough voters to look for an alternative. The main motivation is finding a candidate who can win, who can beat Joe Biden or RFK, Jr. or whoever the Democrat nominee will be. Republicans are finally getting tired of losing elections. This year should be a prime time for Republicans to take back the White House and the Senate but we all know that Republicans are prone to snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory. Some of the GOP’s recent candidates have been poor choices. Most have been recruited by Trump. Sorry. Not sorry.
Will Hurd, like DeSantis and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, is young. Hurd is 45, the same as Suarez. DeSantis is 44. Vivek Ramaswamy is 37 but he seems to be running for vice president, or maybe a cabinet position. He’d be good at either of those options. Hurd retired from Congress rather than run in 2020 with Trump at the top of the ballot. He is strongly anti-Trump.
Hurd’s time in Congress was marked by his willingness to buck his party. He voted against repealing the Affordable Care Act, and he supported universal background checks for gun purchases and protections against LGBTQ discrimination.
Hurd also worked across the aisle within the Texas delegation, going on a road trip with then-Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, in 2017 that they broadcast live online.
Hurd split with Trump in some highly visible ways. Hurd was among the Republicans who called on Trump to drop out of the 2016 presidential race after the release of the 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape that depicted Trump boasting about groping women. And as Trump pushed to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, Hurd repeatedly called it the “most expensive and least effective way” to secure the border.
In the polls, Trump and DeSantis are at the top. All the others are between 5 or 6 percent and zero percent. None of the low polling candidates come anywhere near taking out DeSantis from second place, despite all the doom and gloom propaganda from other Republican candidates and cable news anchors that DeSantis is sinking while Trump holds on to first place.
Democrats and Trump’s supporters are one with trashing DeSantis and any other GOP candidates who may prove problematic for Trump. Hurd, by the way, voted against Trump’s first impeachment in 2019.
The Democratic National Committee swiftly responded to Hurd’s announcement Thursday, saying issuing a statement that said he “spent his career in Congress in lockstep with Donald Trump’s extreme MAGA agenda.”
Hurd can also expect scrutiny from his right. The pro-Trump super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., reacted to his announcement by emailing reporters a bullet-point list titled, “Will Hurd’s RINO Record.” The first point called Hurd “weak on immigration.”
In another statement, the group used Hurd’s entrance to knock Trump’s closest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Let’s be honest, Never-Trumper Will Hurd wouldn’t even consider getting in this race if Ron DeSantis’ campaign wasn’t in total free fall,” super PAC spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said.
Hurd wants Republican candidates to take it to Trump. “Too many of these candidates in this race are afraid of Donald Trump,” Hurd told CBS. He’s right about that. Trump-supporting PACs have spent millions to ding up other Republican candidates in the primary. He sure doesn’t sound like he’s as confident that his big lead will hold as he claims. It’s past time for the others to stop holding back.
Hurd told CBS today that he’s “pissed” that important issues aren’t being discussed. One issue he mentioned is education and low scores in math, science, and reading.
“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.
“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? We can do this. It’s hard. But here’s one thing I’ve learned: If we remember two things, we can pull this off. America is better together. Way more unites us than divides us.”
We’ll see if he makes it to the debate stage in August.
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