Article snippet: Republicans are growing more pessimistic about their odds of taking back the House majority after the surprise news Thursday that Rep. MORE (Texas), the only African American GOP lawmaker in the House, is retiring. Hurd is the sixth House Republican and the third from the critical state of Texas to announce his departure, dampening GOP hopes for 2020. Republicans would need to gain either 18 or 19 seats to win back the House majority. The precise total depends on the outcome of a race for a North Carolina district. Now they will also have to hold on to Hurd’s district, which The Cook Political Report quickly moved from “Toss Up” to “Lean Democratic.” It’s likely to be an uphill climb and at a minimum will mean spending more money to win an open seat. Hurd is the third Republican from Texas to announce his retirement, following fellow Reps. MORE. “These retirements are costing Republicans real money next fall,” said one GOP strategist, explaining the party will have to shift money to the district to save it. Hurd held on to his seat by less than 1 percentage point during the 2018 midterms. One GOP House member said the open seats are adding to the GOP’s challenge in winning back the House. “It just requires a strong candidate and some additional resources, frankly, to build name ID and to deal with that because you aren’t the incumbent — that does make it harder to hold the seat, which is why you're seeing from the shift in The Cook Political Report and some of th... Link to the full article to read more