Former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, a strong Trump critic, suspends long-shot 2024 presidential bid

Former Texas Rep. Will Hurd suspended his Republican presidential bid Monday, abandoning a brief campaign built on criticizing Donald Trump at a time when his party seems even more determined to embrace the former president.

Hurd said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that he was endorsing Nikki Haley for the GOP nomination.

Hurd was the last major candidate to join the already crowded Republican primary field when he announced his run in late July. He leaves the race after failing to gain traction as pragmatic moderate who pledged to lead the party away from Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement. Hurd failed to qualify for both the first GOP debate in Milwaukee in August and the second debate the following month in Simi Valley, California.

Hurd ending his campaign follows another Republican candidate, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who became the first presidential hopeful to suspend his campaign shortly after failing to make the first debate stage.