2024 Watch: Is former GOP Rep. Will Hurd’s new book a prelude to a potential presidential run?

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Putin realizes his Ukraine invasion is going poorly: Will Hurd

Former Texas congressman and CIA clandestine officer Will Hurd argues there is more the U.S. and NATO can do to aid Ukraine and discusses his new book, 'American Reboot.'

Former three-term Republican Rep. Will Hurd is urging his party to rethink its style of politics in a new book that also offers ideas to reform America’s political system and keep the nation competitive against China and other powers for the rest of this century. 

And to some political pundits, "American Reboot: An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done" looks like a roadmap for a potential 2024 Republican presidential nomination run by the former CIA clandestine agent and analyst who was the only Black Republican in the House of Representatives during his tenure in Congress.

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But in an interview with Fox News Digital, Hurd demurred when asked about the next White House race.

"If I have the opportunity to serve my country, I’ll evaluate it. I’ve been lucky to serve it in a number of different ways," Hurd said. "But right now, for me it was important to put out some of these ideas because 72% of Americans think the country’s on the wrong track and it doesn’t have to be that way."

Former GOP Rep. Will Hurd of Texas, in a photo for his new book "American Reboot: An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done" 

Asked again about 2024, Hurd pointed to this year’s midterm elections, when the GOP aims to win back majorities in the House and Senate and emphasized that "thinking about any election other than the one that’s upon you is not wise."

Hurd’s book is one part memoir – about growing up in Texas with a Black father and White mother, his CIA caree and his years in Congress during the administrations of Presidents Obama and Trump – and part a prescription for his party and the country as a whole.

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"This is about ensuring American competitiveness for the rest of the century, and that there are some serious questions that we have to deal with in order for us to out compete with China," Hurd explained. And he warned that "in order to do that, we have to get our politics in order where we can have these big debates."

Hurd, who in 2014 first won his election to Congress representing a district along the U.S.-Mexico border, declined in 2020 to seek a fourth term.

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Looking to November’s midterm elections, Hurd said he sees "an opportunity" for the GOP. "The Republican Party is going to win in 2022. We’re taking the House back, there’s no question about that, and likely to take back the Senate," he predicted. "But the trend that is fueling that is incompetence by the Democrats."

Even though he didn’t run in 2020, Hurd campaigned for fellow Republicans.

"I think we ended up helping 10 candidates in the 2020 cycle," he noted. 

Then-GOP Rep. Will Hurd of Texas met with local Republicans in New Hampshire, as he campaigned during the 2020 cycle for fellow party members, on May 3, 2019 in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Fox News )

Asked about his 2022 efforts, he told Fox News Digital "we’ll be involved." 

"We haven’t made the final list yet," he added. "We’re still evaluating some of the 2022 races where we can be helpful from a resource perspective."

In his book, Hurd launches an indictment against the GOP, writing that "the party can’t have in it a--holes, racists, misogynists and homophobes. For our party to more accurately reflect a broader America, we will need to appeal to the middle, not the edges."  

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Hurd was one of a number of Republicans in the 2020 cycle who worked to diversify the party, and was successful, as the GOP conference in the House saw its percentage of minority and female representatives increase.

"I think it’s going to be even more diverse after the 2022 elections," Hurd stressed. "I think that is the secret for our success."

Former President Donald Trump speaks at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., Wednesday, July 7, 2021.  (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Hurd claimed that "Democrats have taken communities of color for granted for a really long time, and you’re seeing that along the border in Texas. You’re going to probably see record turnout of Latinos voting for Republicans in the 2022 cycle…. Those are the opportunities that are going to fuel the growth of the party."

"When I was in office, nobody thought a Black Republican could represent at 71% Latino district," Hurd said. "If you look at South Texas, when I was in Congress, I was the only Republican on the border during my last year."

And he forecast that Republicans will hold at least three and possibly four of the five congressional districts in Texas along the southern border next year. 

"We have an opportunity to establish Republicans in office for some time if we take advantage of this moment," Hurd said. "And what we do in 2023 is going to determine the outcome of races in 2024. This is an opportunity for us."

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Hurd also predicted that Trump – who remains the most popular and influential politician in the GOP as the former president continues to play a kingmaker’s role in party politics and repeatedly flirts with another White House run in 2024 – will see his sway over the Republican Party diminish.

"I do" see the former president’s influence waning, Hurd suggested, as he pointed to how some Trump-endorsed candidates running this year are struggling in their primary races. And he spotlighted that the Trump-backed candidate in an all-GOP special election last summer for a vacant House seat in Texas lost.