"Hurd worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for nine years, from 2000 to 2009. He was stationed primarily in Washington, D.C., but his tour of duty included being an operations officer in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.[7][6] He speaks Urdu,[8] the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan, where he worked undercover.[8] One of his roles at the CIA was briefing members of Congress, which is what made Hurd want to pursue politics.[9] He returned to Texas after his CIA service and worked as a partner with Crumpton Group LLC, a strategic advisory firm, and as a senior adviser with FusionX, a cybersecurity firm.[6]"
"After the primary, Hurd distanced himself from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. He criticized Trump's "nasty rhetoric" about Muslims and Latinos and his proposal to build an $8 billion, 1,000-mile-long (1,600 km) wall across the American border with Mexico. Hurd described the proposal as "the most expensive, least effective way to do border security".[20] He stated that he did not need to associate himself with Trump to succeed.[20]
During the campaign, Gallego attempted to tie Hurd to Trump, who was considered unpopular with Texas Hispanics. After the Access Hollywood tape was released, Hurd affirmed that he would not endorse or vote for Trump, based on Trump's behavior toward women and minorities.[21] Hurd claimed that Gallego had been insufficiently aggressive in support for veteran issues and was largely a tool of Nancy Pelosi, at that time the House minority leader.[21]"