Will Hurd

Will Hurd
Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 23rd district
Assumed office
January 3, 2015
Preceded by Pete Gallego
Personal details
Born (1977-08-19) August 19, 1977
San Antonio, Texas, USA
Nationality American
Political party Republican
Residence Helotes, Texas
Alma mater Texas A&M University, (B.S.) (2000)
Known for CIA, member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Religion Southern Baptist[1]

William Ballard Hurd, known as Will Hurd (born August 19, 1977), is an American politician who is the U.S. Representative for Texas's 23rd congressional district, a district which stretches eight hundred miles, from San Antonio to El Paso, along the U.S.-Mexican border.[2] He took office on January 3, 2015. Hurd is the first black Republican elected to Congress from Texas.[2][3]

Early years

Hurd is the son of Robert and Mary Alice Hurd of San Antonio. He is a graduate of John Marshall High School in the San Antonio suburb of Leon Valley, Texas.[4] After high school Hurd attended Texas A&M and served as the Student Body President in 1999 at the time of the Aggie Bonfire collapse.[1] He graduated from A&M in 2000 with a degree in computer science and a minor in international relations.[1]

Hurd worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for nine years, stationed in Washington, D.C., including a tour of duty as an operations officer in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.[1][4] He speaks Urdu,[5] the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan, where Hurd worked undercover.[5]

One of his roles at the CIA was briefing members of Congress, many of whom could not distinguish the Sunni and Shia divide at the center of Islamic civil wars for centuries.[6] This lack of understanding by members of Congress made Hurd want to pursue politics.[6]

He returned to Texas after his CIA service and worked for Crumpton Group, strategic advisory firm, as a partner and a senior adviser with the cybersecurity firm FusionX.[1] He currently lives in Helotes, a suburb of San Antonio.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2010

Hurd announced his candidacy on November 19, 2009, for the Republican nomination in Texas's 23rd congressional district, a district which is two-thirds Hispanic.[5][7][8] His electronically filed campaign finance records indicated that he had $70,000 on hand to fund his attempt.[9]

On February 15, 2010, Hurd received the endorsement of the San Antonio Express-News.[10] In the primary election on March 2, 2010, he received the greatest number of votes but failed to receive a majority of the votes cast, resulting in a run-off election on April 13, 2010.[11][12] He faced second-place finisher Francisco "Quico" Canseco, a San Antonio banker, formerly from Laredo, who made his third attempt at a congressional seat.[11] Hurd lost to Canseco in the runoff 53 to 47 percent. Canseco ultimately won the general election but lost after one term in 2012.

2014

Hurd once again ran for the 23rd district in the United States House of Representatives elections, 2014. He defeated former U.S. Representative Quico Canseco, who had lost re-election in 2012, and defeated incumbent Democrat Pete Gallego of Alpine by 2,500 votes.[1] He was endorsed by the San Antonio Express-News.[1]

He did a post-election swing through some parts of his district that had heavily favored the incumbent Gallego in the voting.[13]

2016

Hurd was handily re-nominated for a second term in the Republican primary election held on March 1, 2016. He defeated William "Hart" Peterson, 39,762 votes (82.2 percent) to 8,590 (17.8 percent).[14] Hurd now faces a rematch on November 8 with his predecessor, the Democrat Pete Gallego. A much larger voter turnout is expected for this swing district than occurred in 2014 because of the impact of the 2016 presidential election.

After winning re-nomination, Hurd began to distance himself from potential support in the November 8 general election for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. He opposes Trump's "nasty rhetoric" in reference to Muslims and Latinos and the candidate's proposal to build an $8 billion, 1,000-mile long wall across the American border with Mexico. "Building a wall is the most expensive, least-effective way to do border security," Hurd said in an interview. Hurd said he does not need coattails from his party's presidential nominee: "Anybody who is hoping on coattails or macro trends, is not doing his job."[15]

Tenure

As with the other congressional freshmen, Hurd's term officially began on January 3, 2015, and he was sworn in on January 6. As of 2016 Hurd is the only member of Congress who has actively served as a CIA case officer during the War on Terrorism.[6] In 2015, Hurd voted 96 percent with his party's position on roll-call votes.[16]

In July 2015, Hurd was named to replace Aaron Schock of Illinois as a co-chair of the Congressional Future Caucus, along with Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.[17]

Hurd is pro-life.[18]

Committee assignments

In his first term in Congress, Hurd was made the chairman of the Information Technology Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (which focuses in part on cybersecurity), which is unusual for a first-term member of Congress.[5][19]

He is vice-chair of the Border and Maritime Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee.[20]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Texas-23: Will Hurd (R), National Journal
  2. 1 2 Recio, Maria (November 6, 2014) - "Texas Sending First Black Republican to Congress". Star-Telegram. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  3. ↑ Hansi Lo Wang (November 8, 2014). "As GOP Swept Congress, Black Republicans Took Home Historic Wins". NPR. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  4. 1 2 Garcia, Gilbert (March 3, 2010). "Rodriguez rolls in District 23". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Weissert, Will (March 7, 2015). "Texas black GOP congressman relishes being political outlier". Conroe Courier (Conroe, Texas). Retrieved March 8, 2015. The 37-year-old worked for the CIA for almost a decade, much of it undercover in Pakistan, where he mastered the national tongue.
  6. 1 2 3 Kane, Paul (March 5, 2015). "Texan Will Hurd defies the odds for House Republicans. Can he last?". The Washington Post (Washington, D.C.). Retrieved March 8, 2015.
  7. ↑ "BurkaBlog". Texas Monthly. December 3, 2009. Retrieved February 20, 2010.
  8. ↑ Giroux, Greg (November 19, 2009). "Texas: Will Republican Ride Hurd on Rodriguez?". Roll Call. Retrieved March 3, 2010.
  9. ↑ Smith, Morgan (February 16, 2010). "Primary Color: CD-23". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  10. ↑ "Our recommendations for primary elections". San Antonio Express-News. February 15, 2010. Retrieved February 28, 2010.
  11. 1 2 Martin, Gary; Pack, William (March 3, 2010). "Congressional candidates in GOP runoffs". San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved March 4, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Election Night Returns". 2010 Republican Party Primary Election. Office of the Secretary of State of Texas. March 3, 2010. Retrieved March 3, 2010.
  13. ↑ U.S. rep-elect comes through town The Fort Stockton Pioneer December 11, 2015
  14. ↑ "Republican primary returns". Texas Secretary of State]]. March 1, 2016. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  15. ↑ Bill Lambrecht, "Hurd is staying out of Trump's shadow: Congressman distances self from potential GOP nominee", San Antonio Express-News, March 20, 2016, pp, 1, A24
  16. ↑ Filipa Ioannou, "Gallego's claim on Hurd's voting record proves true," San Antonio Express-News, November 15, 2015, pp. 1, A17
  17. ↑ "REP. WILL HURD (R-TX) NAMED CO-CHAIR OF CONGRESSIONAL FUTURE CAUCUS". Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  18. ↑ Life Site News, Nov. 5, 2014
  19. ↑ Marks, Michael (January 7, 2015) - "Freshman Texans to Lead High-Tech Subcommittees". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
  20. ↑ King, Tura (February 24, 2015). "Cong. Will Hurd To Speak at Campus Muster". Texas A&M Today (College Station, Texas). Retrieved March 8, 2015.

External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Pete Gallego		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Texas's 23rd congressional district
2015–present 		Incumbent
United States order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by
French Hill
R-Arkansas		 United States Representatives by seniority
402nd 		Succeeded by
Evan Jenkins
R-West Virginia
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