1,000 votes. Being one of a dwindling number of moderate Republicans willing to stand up to Trump, Hurd
likely did not relish another tough battle. The congressman has hit back at the president over his attacks on
the integrity of the intelligence services, his requests for a border wall and Trump’s racist tweets against
four progressive Democrat house members.
Trump told Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan
and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts to “go back” where they came from. All four members are American
citizens and all except Omar were born in the US, with the Minnesota representative becoming an
American citizen when she was 17 years old. Hurd was one of only four house Republicans to vote in favour
of a resolution condemning Trump’s racist tweets.
But Republican problems go beyond Hurd’s district. Nine members of the GOP have decided to retire
rather than seek re-election since the end of the 2018 election cycle and six of those have come in the last
two weeks. That includes another Texas Republican Pete Olson and Indiana’s Susan Brooks, both of whose
districts are considered vulnerable in 2020.
Representative Martha Roby of Alabama is also quitting, meaning that two of the 13 GOP women in the
house will be gone. Only one new Republican woman was elected to the house in the 2018 midterms
despite it being an area the party recognises it needs to strengthen. Last year the Democrats welcomed a
record number of women in congress.
The last Democrat intake were also the most diverse in years, while Republicans are taking the image of the
president – very white and male. Part of that is down to the fact that whichever party holds the majority in
the house controls virtually every facet of the chamber – so being in the minority is not much fun. But it is
also indicative of the president’s policies.
Republicans were already facing a tough job to retake the house in 2020, the odds of it happening are
slipping with every retirement.