Rep. Will Hurd of the 23rd Congressional District of Texas has announced his decision to not seek reelection in 2020. The Republican representative is one of six lawmakers of the party to announce retirement in just the past two weeks.
Hurd, Class of 2000 and former Texas A&M student body president, said the decision was made based on the interest of best serving the country on challenges concerning national security and technology.
“I’m leaving the House of Representatives to help our country in a different way,” Hurd said in a press release announcing his retirement. “I want to use my knowledge and experience to focus on these generational challenges in new ways.”
Hurd worked as an undercover officer in the CIA before being elected to Congress, and said he wanted to use his experience help the Intelligence Community.
“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 said in the press release.
Hurd said that as the only African American Republican in the House of Representatives, and as the representative of a mainly Latino district he had the opportunity to present a Republican platform to people who do not normally associate with a conservative view.
“Serving people of all walks of life has shown me that way more unites our country than divides us,” Hurd said in the press release. “This understanding has allowed me to win elections many people thought I couldn’t, especially when the political environment was overwhelmingly against my party.”
Hurd is accompanied by eight total lawmakers in the House of Representatives that are resigning in 2020. Two of which are women, Rep. Susan Brooks of Indiana and Rep. Martha Roby of Alabama. Hurd’s decision will also leave Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, as the only Republican elected African American in D.C.