Will Hurd Announces 2024 Bid for President on CBS Mornings
"I believe the Republican Party can be the party that talks about the future, not the past."
Today, former U.S. Congressman Will Hurd (R-TX) announced his bid for the Republican nomination for president on CBS Mornings. Below are some highlights from his interview.
WILL HURD ON WHY HE'S RUNNING:
"We live in complicated times and we need common sense. There are a number of generational defining challenges that we're faced with in America. Everything from the Chinese government trying to surpass us as the global superpower, the fact that inflation is persistent at a time when technologies like artificial intelligence is going to upend every single industry, and our kids—their scores in math, science, and reading are the lowest they've ever been in this century.
"These are the issues we should be talking about. And to be frank, I'm pissed that we're not talking about these things. I'm pissed that our elected officials are telling us to hate our neighbors. Our neighbors are not our enemies—they're our fellow Americans who we just happen to have a disagreement with. ... I believe the Republican Party can be the party that talks about the future, not the past.
"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."
WILL HURD ON HOW A DARK HORSE CANDIDATE CAN WIN:
"A dark horse candidate can pull this off. One, you can't be afraid of Donald Trump. Too many candidates in this race are afraid of Donald Trump, but we also have to articulate a different vision. All of my life, I've heard that the Republican Party was the 'big tent party.' We were the party that was willing to have competition of ideas. But unfortunately, we have got in this echo chamber and only preach to the choir. It's real easy to preach to the choir, but what we need to do is grow the choir. You have to do that in a primary and you have to do that in a general election.
"And guess what? I know how to do that. Nobody thought a Black Republican was going to win in a 72% Latino district against another Republican who had a lot of money and everyone was backing him. I was able to pull it off because I did something simple, show up to places where people don't expect you. Talk about the things they care about and that's the path, it's not easy... it's something we have to do."
