Texas Congressman Will Hurd Clinches in Tight Race

U.S. Representative Will Hurd won a tight rematch election with former Congressman Pete Gallego for the 23^rd Congressional District of Texas.

Hurd is considered by many to be a rising star in the Republican Party and the Texas Congressional Delegation. Hurd unofficially garnered 48.46 percent of the vote in the election compared to Gallego’s 46.8 percent. Libertarian Ruben Corvalan pulled in the remaining five percent.

This is the second time Hurd has won a hard-fought victory over the former Texas Congressman. The same three candidates faced off in 2014. In that race, Hurd won a near 50 percent victory in the three way race, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s election archives. Gallegos earned nearly 48 percent of the vote and Corvalan won 2.54.

“We won this thing because of y’alls hard work,” Congressman Hurd told supporters Tuesday night, the Texas Tribune reported. “We won because y’all believed that we could win. We won because y’all worked harder, because y’all cared, because this district recognizes a lot more work needs to be done.”

The Republican freshman representative won four of the district’s nine and one-half border counties. El Paso County is split between two congressional districts.

KSAT ABC12 in San Antonio reported on Gallego’s concession speech. The former representative congratulated his opponent on the victory.

“We’re a resilient nation. The sun rises tomorrow. It’s a new day and we’ll put one foot in front of the other as we have every other day for generations, and generations in the past as I know we have for generations to come,” Gallego said. “So the great people of District 23 from Socorro to Alpine and Del Rio to Eagle Pass to San Antonio and back out to West Texas, muchisimas gracias.”

As a freshman representative, Hurd was appointed chairman of the Information Technology Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform committee. He also serves on the National Security Subcommittee. On the House Committee on Homeland Security, Hurd serves as vice-chairman of the Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee and as a member of the Counterterrorism and Intelligence Subcommittee.

Before being elected to Congress, Hurd served as an undercover officer in the Central Intelligence Agency. He worked in the Middle East and South Asia for the agency for nearly 10 years.

The Texas A&M graduate will now return to Congress for a sophomore term.

All 36 Texas representatives won re-election to the House of Representatives.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.