Hurd's opponent concedes in Texas race

Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas) has apparently held on to his seat in Congress in yet another photo finish. The sprawling and politically divided 23^rd Texas congressional district has been the home of three straight squeakers.

Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones conceded the race Nov. 19, after the canvassing of results across the district indicated that she would not be able to close the gap of about 1,150 votes separating the two candidates. Texas law allows for recounts in elections this close, but they are expensive for the candidate seeking the recount, unless he or she wins in the end.

Jones was in Washington, D.C., this past week attending orientation events for new members, in the event that the count changed in her favor as a result of provisional and absentee ballots.

"While we came up short this time, we ran a race of which we can be proud. I remain committed to serving my community and my country, and I wish Will Hurd the courage to fight for TX-23 in the way in which our district deserves," Jones said in a statement on Nov. 19.

Hurd, the chairman of the IT Subcommittee on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, emerged as a freshman in 2014 to assume a leading role in information technology oversight, procurement and cybersecurity. Hurd is the lead sponsor of the Managing Government Technology Act, which authorizes revolving funds at agencies and a governmentwide fund to pay for upgrades to cloud and managed services outside of the annual appropriations process, with fund recipients paying back the fund out of realized savings.

For the first time in his short career on Capitol Hill, Hurd will be serving in the minority party. It's not clear whether he'll serve as ranking member on the IT Subcommittee or if that panel will exist in the next Congress. Hurd also sits on the Homeland Security and Intelligence Committees. 

The 23^rd district is one of the largest geographically in the continental United States, and it includes about 800 miles of border region, as well as chunks of El Paso and San Antonio. Hurd first won election to Congress in 2014 by a margin of fewer than 2,000 votes out of more than 115,000 votes cast, defeating incumbent Democrat Pete Gallego. He won re-election in 2016 by fewer than two percentage points over his opponent.