Will Hurd adds an anti-Trump voice to GOP race: Will that help or hurt the front-runner?

WASHINGTON - The Republican presidential field has another anti-Trump voice − but the initial reaction is that Will Hurd's arguments will likely be drowned out by other challengers as well as the loud roar of die-hard Trump supporters. 

Will Hurd, a former GOP congressman from Texas, announced his candidacy Thursday by saying the party cannot afford to re-nominate the twice-indicted Donald Trump; others wonder if the growing size of the field - now more than 10 - will wind up helping the former president by splitting the anti-Trump vote.

In an announcement video, Hurd cited Trump's poor electoral record as reason enough to reject him: "If we nominate a lawless, selfish, failed politician like Donald Trump - who lost the House, the Senate, and the White House - we all know (President) Joe Biden will win again."

Hurd also spent part of the day on social media. In one tweet, he said to fellow Republicans that "I'm sick and tired of Donald Trump lying to us. Whether you like him or not, he turned Americans against each other. You know it, and I know it." 

A bigger, crowded field

Numerous political analysts say a crowded field benefits Trump because he is believed to have a solid base of 25%-to-35% of GOP voters - good enough to win primaries if ten challengers split up the remaining 65%-to-75%.

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Charlotte Clymer, a political writer and Trump critic, said Hurd's entry helps Trump because if anything he "will peel away votes" from existing outspoken anti-Trump candidates like Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson.

Also, the moderate and mild-mannered Hurd "doesn’t have the guts to be the kind of full-throated critic of Trump that consolidates voters around that message," Clymer said.

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'Too many candidates are afraid of Donald Trump'

At the very least, Hurd's campaign will increase criticism of Trump, targeting voters who are anxious about his legal problems and his prospects in a general election against Biden.

In an announcement interview on "CBS Mornings," Hurd said that "too many candidates in this race are afraid of Donald Trump, but we also have to articulate a different vision." He said that his appeal to multiple Republican constituencies can unite the party.

An initial wave of major Republican presidential candidates - a group including Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, and Nikki Haley - have been loathe to criticize Trump directly, though they have questioned his track record in recent elections.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has been increasingly critical of the former president, especially over Trump's demands that he use his office to overturn the 2020 election.

Christie, the former governor of New Jersey and a more recent entrant, has built his entire campaign around opposing Trump, with a focus on the first party primary in New Hampshire.

Hutchinson, a former governor of Arkansas, has called for Trump to exit the race in light of his indictments in New York and Florida.

Hurd is jostling with others to get heard, including businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.

A softening for Trump

Trump leads the polls, but recent surveys do show angst over his legal problems.

A CNN poll conducted by SSRS this week said Trump is the choice of 47% of Republicans and Republican-leaning registered voters, down from 53% in a similar survey in May. DeSantis finished second with 26%.

While CNN reported that Trump's "support appears to have softened" following his most recent indictment, other candidates are far back in the new poll: Pence (9%), Haley (5%), Scott (4%), and Christie (3%), with others at 1% or less.

The trials of Trump

However Hurd fits in, the coming GOP campaign will be held in the shadow of two trials of the current front-runner - at least two.

A federal grand jury this month indicted Trump on obstruction of justice charges stemming from his removal of classified documents from the White House as his term ended.

In his CBS interview, Hurd - a former CIA officer - castigated Trump for trying to hold onto sensitive and secret information about U.S. national security.

"The fact that Donald Trump willingly kept that material and wants to be the leader of the free world is unacceptable to me," Hurd said, adding that it "spits in the face of the thousands of men and women who every single day and every single night put themselves in harm’s way in order to keep us safe."

In late March, a grand jury in New York state, indicted Trump on charges of falsifying business records in connection with the payment of hush money who was planning to reveal details of an affair.

In addition, Trump remains under investigation by prosecutors in Atlanta and the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C., over efforts to overturn his loss to Biden in the 2020 election.

In addition to all of that, a civil jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation of writer E. Jean Carroll, who still has another case pending against the former preident.

Team Trump: This is more about DeSantis

Trump allies all but mocked Hurd's entry into the race, and said it reflects more on DeSantis' political struggles than on the former president.

"Never-Trumper Will Hurd wouldn’t even consider getting in this race if Ron DeSantis’ campaign wasn’t in total free fall," said Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for the pro-Trump political organization Make America Great Again.

Democrats enjoy the chaos

Democrats are certainly enjoying it all, saying the more Republican candidates who oppose Trump, the better it is for a vulnerable Trump to emerge as their oppinents.

In a series of statements, Democratic Party organizations pointed out that, while in Congress, Hurd voted with Trump and his "Make America Great Again" movement" about 80% of the time, including "tax giveaways" to the wealthy, and opposition to a global climate change agreement.

One statement said that the "chaotic" Republican race is "guaranteed to pave the way for the most MAGA candidate to emerge from the field."

Will Hurd be heard?

Tim Miller, a former Republican operative who left the party over Trump, praised Hurd's intentions, but questioned whether he would have any impact at all on the 2024 race. For one thing, he said, conservative media outlets are likely to ignore him, making it virtually impossible for him to get any traction in a Republican race.

Miller, the author of a book called "Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell," said Hurd "is running in a party whose voters have zero interest in his brand of technocratic centrism, I doubt he'll get enough traction to have any meaningful impact on Trump's vote share."

Miller added that "voters who like Will Hurd are similar to me - former Republicans, not GOP primary voters."

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