The 2020 Congressional elections are a long ways off, but we already have an announced challenger for Republican San Antonio Congressman Will Hurd, who was just re-elected to his third term in November, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Liz Wahl is a Democrat and a former TV reporter with the pro Putin TV network Russia Today. She is best known for resigning from Russia Today live on the air as a protest against 'disinformation.'
"I'm proud to be an American and I believe in disseminating the truth," Wahl said on the 2014 broadcast. "And that is why after this newscasts, I'm resigning."
Wahl, who now lives in San Antonio, says that experience positions her well to understand the threat that Russia is playing today to American democracy.
"Even though this was in 2014, I would never have imagined that Russia would be meddling in our democracy," she said in an interview.
Wahl also will run as a mainstream Democrat, supporting expanded access to health care, and solutions for climate change.
"Politicians have dedicated an absurd amount of time and resources to take healthcare away from people that need it the most, including removing protections for those with pre-existing conditions. Every Texan should be able to see a doctor and we must work toward reducing the high maternal mortality rate in the state," she said in an announcement statement.
'In an interview in Politico, Wahl said she resigned because she was tired of being 'Putin's pawn.'
Hurd narrowly defeated a strong challenge from Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones last fall, winning re-election by just a few hundred votes. The 23rd Congressional District is seen as one of the few truly competitive Congressional districts in the county.
Wahl, 33, was born on a U.S. Naval base in the Philippines, and is married to a U.S. Air Force Surgeon. Like Mayor Nirenberg, Wahl's mother is Filipino.
IMAGE: LIZ WAHL