Koch group launches digital ads in tight Texas House race

A Latino group affiliated with conservative mega-donor Charles Koch launched a digital ad campaign on Thursday in support of Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), who’s facing a tough challenge in a district won by Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The Libre Initiative will run bilingual digital ads to mobilize Latinos in Texas’s largest district, which is 68 percent Latino.

{mosads}“Our community has a better path forward when their legislators support policies that remove barriers to opportunity. Congressman Hurd is a fighter for immigration reform, lower taxes, limited regulation, veteran empowerment, and for expanding trade to create jobs,” said Daniel Garza, president of The Libre Initiative.

The ads highlight Hurd’s record on immigration, taxes and veteran’s health care.

Hurd first unseated then-Rep. Pete Gallego (D) in 2014, and again beat Gallego in 2016, in what turned out to be one of the most expensive races in the country.

He’s facing a challenge from Iraq War veteran Gina Ortiz Jones (D) in a race that Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates as a toss-up and the Cook Political Report has as “leans Republican.”

Clinton won the district by 3 points in 2016.

Texas’s 23rd Congressional District stretches from San Antonio to El Paso, making it one of the largest in the country. It’s notoriously expensive to campaign in the district, both because of its size and because it encompasses two major media markets.

Hurd, a former CIA undercover agent, took a central role in the immigration fight earlier this year, pairing up with Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.) to draft a bipartisan deal that would have traded increased border security for permanent legalized status for so-called Dreamers.

The bipartisan legislation was later scrapped as Republican leadership cut a deal with moderates to attempt passage of Republican-only legislation that failed in a House floor vote.

Hurd also gained national prominence during a cross-country road trip from San Antonio to Washington, D.C., with Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas). The two representatives livestreamed their trip, which they embarked upon to make House votes after their flight was canceled because of the weather.