Mayhew's Electoral Connection

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Congressman Hurd advertises largely through social media

• Twitter: Tweets mainly progress reports on what his team is doing also shows continuous support and appreciation for his constituents. Hurd mixes personal, congressional and historical content in his feed. You can see different photos of his family and also photos of him campaigning and mixing with the locals. Not only that but he does his best to help his community. For example he helps organize classes for locals to learn coding, he is apart of the local effort to improve police and civilian relations and much more. His twitter depicts him as a man of the people and someone who cares.
• YouTube: He uses YouTube mainly to upload videos of him speaking on various issues of importance at congressional hearings, interviews, and personal videos of him campaigning or addressing constituents.
• Facebook: very similar to Twitter posts are almost identical with a few that are different.

Campaign financing 

• Franked mail: 96,539.29
•  Personnel Compensation: 758,781.74
• Travel: 72,232.98
•  Rent, Communication, Utilities: 103,286.60
• Printing/Reproduction: 88,080.41
• Other Services: 33,448.50
• Supplies and Materials: 49,294.24
• Equipment: 11,976.01
• Official Expenses of Members totals: 1,213,639.77
• Office Totals: 1,213,639.77

 Credit Claiming
Congressman Hurd and colleagues passed the REINS Act earlier this month. This act requires all federal regulations with an annual cost of over $100 million to be approved by Congress before implementation. The goal of this act being passed is to prevent a faceless bureaucracy from creating an overly burdensome regulatory environment. Hurd claims that burdensome rules and regulations negatively affect every American in one way or another and fights for small business owners.

Position taking

One of Hurd's more popular stances is on Trump's proposed wall. When President Trump spoke on building a wall on the Mexico/U.S. border Hurd took a stand against Trump although he too is a republican. Texas' 23rd Congressional District is a mixture of cultures and has a large Hispanic population. It is also one of the largest districts and shares 800 miles of the border. Congressman Hurd stated, "Building a wall is the most expensive and least effective way to secure the border. Each section of the border faces unique geographical, cultural, and technological challenges that would be best addressed with a flexible, sector-by-sector approach that empowers the agents on the ground with the resources they need."

Re-Election?

2016 Results

• Peter Gallego vs Will Hurd
• rematch between incumbent Will Hurd (R) and Peter Gallego (D) former incumbent ousted by Hurd (2014)
• Hurd defeated William Peterson in the Republican primary
• Texas' 23rd District heavily rural and Hispanic district. 
• people believed Donald Trump's unpopularity with Hispanic voters was going to make re-election difficult for Hurd
•  Hurd had a small margin of victory against Gallego 110,577 to 107,526 (1.3% or 3,051 votes) 

2018 Election outlook and Current prediction
Transitioning into next years election Hurd is currently the only candidate running for Texas' 23rd district. There are no other Republicans or Democrats who have declared their intent to run against Hurd. I anticipate that Will Hurd will have a safe path to re-election. Reasoning behind this claim is 1) Hurd is a Texas native and also lives in his district although Gallego is as well 2) Hurd is liked and connects well with his constituents which are largely rural blue collar works and a Hispanic population 3) reinforces this relationship by speaking with local school children, active in his community, and takes the time to participate in community events put together by locals.

Campaign finance

Campaign Cmte and Leadership PAC Fundraising, 2015 - 2016

Raised:	$4,184,806
Spent:	$4,199,297
Cash on Hand:	$63,774
Debts:	$226,891
Last Report:	Saturday, December 31, 2016

Top 5 Contributors, 2015 - 2016, Campaign Cmte and Leadership PAC

Contributor	Total	Indivs	PACs
Hunt Companies	$34,581	$34,581	$0
Nustar Energy	$26,225	$11,225	$15,000
National Cattlemen's Beef Assn	$24,500	$0	$24,500
Silver Eagle Distributors	$21,050	$21,050	$0
Home Depot	$20,000	$0	$20,000

•  Congressman Hurd is apart of Having Unwavering Resolve and Determination PAC located in San Antonio, TX
• organizations themselves don't donate, rather organizations' PACs, individual members, employees, owners and those individuals' immediate families

Major Issues

•  Many voters in the 23rd District had many priorities close to home like  
• border security
• healthcare
• veterans issues
• Texas' 23rd District is a large Hispanic population, and the talk about Trump and his wall were a popular topic.
• Hurd believes the wall to be an inefficient way to protect the border and a hindrance to Mexico/Texas relations 

Texas" 23rd Congressional District

 
Texas' 23rd Congressional District

• Population: 747,732
• Major Cities: El Paso and La Salle are the larger counties but there are multiple subsidiary counties. These counties include: Reagan, Brewster, Maverick, Frio, Crockett, Bexar and many more.

Demographics

Racial Make-Up

• White: 15%
• African American: 3.2%
• Asian: 1.5%
• Hispanic: 69.7
• Native American: 0.67
• Other: 9.9% 

Religious Makeup

• Texas ranks in the upper half among states in percentage of population belonging to a denomination. According to the 2010 U.S. Religion Census at least 56% are adherents to a religion, national average is at 48.8 (used state of Texas because info on my district's makeup was scarce.)
• Muslim: 1.68%
• Christian: 49.86%
• Other: 40.18%

Socioeconomics & Major Industries

• Median Income: $46,232
• note: 14.4% of families earned income below the poverty level in the past year
• Unemployment: 8.8%
• Median Age: 33.1 years old
• Major industries include
• Mining, Construction, Transportation and warehousing, healthcare, and lastly accommodation and food services. 

Party Affiliation

• Republican district 
• currently represented under Will Hurd 
• Like a majority of Texans they too voted for Trump in the Presidential election

Product of The Lone Star State

Biographical Information https://hurd.house.gov/
Congressman William Ballard Hurd better known as Will Hurd was born August 19th, 1977 (39 years old) in San Antonio, Texas where he was also raised. Hurd attended John Marshall High School and later received his degree in Computer Science from Texas A&M University where he served as the Student Body President.

Career https://hurd.house.gov/

Before his life as a Congressman Will was as an undercover officer in the CIA spending nearly a decade between the Middle East and South Asia. Hurd played a key role in collecting intelligence and was an important voice on matters of National Security. Once Hurd left the CIA his degree came in handy when he became the Senior Advisor at a cyber-security firm that helped discover solutions to a variety of issues faced by manufacturers, financial institutions, retailers, and critical infrastructure owners. Not only was he a Senior Advisor but he also partnered with a strategic advisory firm that helped businesses develop relations with other companies and firms in the international markets. In January of 2015, Hurd was elected to the 114th Congress and currently serves on the Committee of Oversight and Government Reform and chairs the Information Technology Subcommittee. In addition to those positions he also sits on the Committee on Homeland Security and is Vice Chair of the Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee. As of recently Congressman Hurd was appointed by Speaker Ryan to serve on the House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee to replace Mike Pompeo who recently was confirmed as the Director of the CIA.

Political Party: Republican

Fun Facts http://opportunitylives.com/10-things-you-dont-know-about-congressman-will-hurd/
http://www.ozy.com/rising-stars/will-hurd-a-black-republicanin-texas/39039

1) Hurd has the responsibility of representing one of the largest congressional districts by area. His district encompasses more than 48K square miles and nearly 825 miles between the U.S./Mexico border. Texas' 23rd congressional district is bigger than 29 U.S. states.

2) Prefers Android over iPhone

3) 1 of 7 African Americans to represent the GOP in the House of Representatives since the 1930s.

4) Favorite spy movie is "Argo" which Ben Affleck stars in. He had to watch it when going through CIA training. 

5) Hurd's favorite things about being a Congress member is being able to fight government bureaucracy and inspire school kids to go beyond their perceived limits.