Ex-Presidential Candidate Hurd Says Halloween through Thanksgiving Is Critical Drop-Out Window for Low-Polling Haley Rivals

Now that Halloween has come and gone, I’m reminded of a recent conversation I had with former representative Will Hurd of Texas three days after he suspended his long-shot 2024 Republican presidential campaign on October 9 and endorsed former governor Nikki Haley of South Carolina.

For Hurd, Tuesday marked the beginning of a new phase in the Republican presidential primary for the anyone-but-Donald-Trump movement. “If there’s not a pathway to victory between Halloween and Thanksgiving, people need to start looking in the mirror and making a tough decision,” Hurd told National Review in a wide-ranging interview on October 12. 

The former congressman insists that Trump is not the inevitable nominee for the Republican Party, even though the former president maintains a very comfortable polling lead in Iowa and New Hampshire and his campaign is still flush with cash.

 “Yes, he’s in the lead. Yes, these polling advantages seem significant. But it can be overcome, especially if we consolidate folks,” Hurd told NR, adding that the buck doesn’t stop with winnowing the field. “It’s time for donors that have historically given — that want to see somebody other than Donald Trump — to start getting off the sidelines and start investing in Ambassador Haley.”

But this far out from the January 15 Iowa caucuses, many GOP donors eager for a non-Trump nominee remain skittish. And the race (for second place) remains crowded: Haley, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, South Carolina senator Tim Scott, Governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie, former governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, and ex-pharmaceutical CEO Vivek Ramaswamy are all still in the running. Only a handful of them have met the Republican National Committee’s fundraising and polling requirements to qualify for next week’s third Republican presidential debate.

Hurd, of course, did not qualify for the first or second debate and hardly registered in the polls for the entire time he was in the race. But he maintains that he followed the advice of fellow Republicans such as New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu, who wrote in a Washington Post op-ed in June that “anyone polling in the low single digits by this winter needs to have the courage to hang it up and head home.” 

Speaking with NR three weeks ago, Hurd was urging his former rivals to follow suit: “Everybody has to listen to the wise words of Kenny Rogers: ‘You gotta know when to hold ’em and know when to fold ’em.’” 

Former vice president Mike Pence is the latest high-profile candidate to drop out of the GOP primary amid polling and fundraising struggles, suspending his campaign over the weekend at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas. As the Iowa caucuses draw near, we’ll be watching closely to see which elected Republicans eager for a non-Trump nominee start publicly urging low-polling candidates to drop out of the race.