Blending a youthful exuberance with an interest in politics and a calling to serve others, Andrew Hughes went to Washington and found what he was looking for.
Andrew Hughes understands this would be an amazing story from the outside looking in, but it is his story, and he is on the inside looking out.
And the view is unbelievable.
A lifelong love of politics has turned into the opportunity of a lifetime for Andrew, whose journey from Texas Tech University and a public relations degree to the youngest deputy secretary in the history of the Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) in Washington, D.C., is the stuff of a movie script.
While it was never easy, things began coming together during his sophomore year at Texas Tech. It was then he landed a Government & Public Policy Internship, which gave him a firsthand view of how the nation’s government worked in general and how HUD worked in particular.
“The program is really neat, and I am a huge fan of it,” he said. “I was 19 and I had the chance to work on the (Capitol) Hill. And it really just encouraged and motivated me, seeing people trying to work together to help their fellow citizens.”
That aspirational kernel would receive a lot of nurturing in the years following his Fall 2007 commencement.
“Andrew personifies everything the Government & Public Service Internship Program is meant to be,” said Ronald Phillips, who has been connected to the initiative since it began in 1999. “When he interned in the spring of 2006, he was a hard-working, energetic student who embraced every opportunity that came his way.
“I remember meeting with him after his internship and noticing just how much he had grown – more mature, more independent, more worldly. He had discovered a new passion in life, one that he has followed ever since – to serve others. I could not be more proud of him.”
Upon graduating from the College of Media & Communication, Andrew’s first foray into the workforce was with the management training program of Morrison Supply Co.
Over the course of the next four years, Andrew began learning about housing from a construction perspective as the company worked with wholesalers to provide mechanical and plumbing supplies for contractors.
After the Morrison company sold, Andrew moved to a wholesaler and worked as a manufacturer’s representative. He continued learning about the intricacies of housing from engineers and architects, deepening and broadening his knowledge. It was a challenging time in both the job and the housing market because of the Great Recession.
“The economy crashed, and I was very thankful that I had a job at a time when I saw a lot of people losing their jobs,” he said. “I remember getting a call about a job in D.C. right after I started, but I had made a commitment, and I think you should always follow through on your word.”
He stayed put … for a while anyway. The door opened again in 2013, thanks to his wife, Kara, who is also a Texas Tech graduate. She was working for Coca-Cola in Fort Worth when a job opportunity in Alexandria, Virginia, came knocking.
The couple made the move with Andrew planning to transition into one of the many communications positions he thought would be available through government agencies and politicians’ offices.
“We moved there, and at that time I was an account manager and marketing director for a water cooler company,” he said. “I thought I would easily find a communications job on the Hill.”
It was not to be, though. After a couple of fruitless months and having already given up his previous job, Andrew realized he didn’t have the luxury of being able to wait any longer.
He needed work and he needed it yesterday so he took a position with the University of Texas System’s federal relations office, working for William Shute and finding himself an unlikely Red Raider tree among a forest of Longhorn colleagues.
“It was a huge paycut, but I really liked Bill Shute,” he said. “I wasn’t a traitor. I still had Texas Tech stuff up in my office, and he told me, ‘You want to work here? I will try to help you.’”
That is precisely what happened.
Andrew had few contacts in Washington, but he had the drive and determination to succeed. He had a great work ethic. Shute noticed, and as Andrew was about to be promoted into a position pretty much designed for him, he saw one of the candidates for president in the run-up to the 2016 election was Ben Carson.
His love of politics rekindled, Andrew began looking into the possibility of working as a Carson campaign volunteer. He made a connection through social media and discovered there was a job opening for a deputy national field director, which managed the operational movements of the campaign.
When he interviewed for the post, he discovered the person he would be reporting to, Michael Brown, was also a Red Raider. Andrew got that job and was soon promoted to deputy political director, where his responsibilities included providing Carson with his morning briefing each day.
“It is literally every detail of his day with not one minute unaccounted for,” he said. “That’s what he goes by, and so I was able to build a relationship with Dr. Carson.”
The relationship mattered. Once Carson ended his candidacy, Andrew was looking at returning to the UT System job, but he stayed in touch and kept his options open. Ultimately, he was part of the 2016 transition team, working as the liaison to the White House from HUD as Carson had been nominated to lead that department.
Eventually, Andrew would be tabbed Carson’s chief of staff.
“If you are chief of staff to a cabinet member, you are going to learn everything about that agency,” said Kent Hance, Texas Tech University System chancellor emeritus who had Hughes as a student in his leadership class. “I told him at the time what a great position that was for him.
“Andrew is the kind of person that if you give him an assignment, it is going to get done. You don’t have to tell him twice, and he will get it done the best way and the smartest way, taking care of the details.”
Looking back, Andrew can see how his time as a Texas Tech undergraduate provided him with the tools he would need to serve in the federal government.
“I really think I grew into myself while I was there and tried to take advantage of all the opportunities,” Andrew said. “I didn’t take high school too seriously, but I took Texas Tech seriously.”
Like a lot of youngsters, Andrew held a part-time job while attending Fort Worth Paschal High School, working at a feed store. The job required baling hay, a chore that remains firmly ingrained in Andrew’s mind today.
“I did not want to do that as a career,” he said with a laugh. “The memory of baling hay would always be a great motivator to stay in class, and when you’re the one who is responsible for paying for it, that changes your perspective as well.”
No wonder Andrew finished at Texas Tech in three and a half years. It might have been even quicker had he not opted for that internship in Washington, but then he would have missed out on a meaningful educational experience that reinforced his dreams.
“Of course, Andrew would be the first to credit much of his success to his wonderful wife, Kara – and rightly so,” Phillips said. “I knew them as they started dating at Texas Tech. Together. They are an incredible couple who support one another in very successful careers while raising a beautiful family. They are devoted parents who make it clear that, no matter how significant their work may be, family always comes first.”
Likewise, his classroom experiences and chance to build relationships with faculty members also helped him grow as a person, pushing him to not settle for anything less than excellence.
“I just learned so much from people like Robert Wernsman and Bill Dean and Chancellor Hance,” he said. “And the community there was so great. My best friends are from Texas Tech. My wife and I have three kids, and they’re all brainwashed that the only football team is Texas Tech.”
Andrew continued to work with Carson on the American Cornerstone Institute following the 2020 election, but he was a volunteer on the 2024 transition team and was chosen to serve as chief of staff for incoming HUD Secretary Scott Turner, starting on inauguration day.
In March, he was nominated by President Trump to become deputy secretary, the youngest in the department’s history.
“I had Andrew in two classes, and I am not surprised at his accomplishments,” said Dean. “He was a very serious and engaged student. I remember several conversations we had outside of class. We renewed our relationship later when I was CEO of the Texas Tech Alumni Association and I visited our D.C. chapter. It was obvious that he was fully engaged in our government and that he would find his role.”
Andrew was confirmed by the Senate in June and serves as HUD’s chief operating officer, implementing the department’s mission and managing day-to-day operations.
“It was very surreal,” he said of the confirmation and swearing in. “I never thought I’d be doing something like that, not because I couldn’t, but because it’s an incredible opportunity. It’s a great team to be a part of. They work together well, and they all care about each other.”
Hance was among those to attend Hughes’ swearing-in ceremony.
“I told him being deputy secretary, he was going to be the best known Red Raider, but there was one name bumping in front of him, (Kansas City Chiefs quarterback) Patrick Mahomes,” Hance laughed. “Andrew is an outstanding person. He is honest. He moves with integrity, and he is someone who, when they are landlocked on an issue, they figure out a way to solve the problem.”
Andrew considers himself fortunate to have worked for President Trump and blessed to have mentors like Dr. Carson and Turner, whom he thinks of as role models. Prior to becoming HUD secretary, Turner served as executive director of the White House Opportunity Revitalization Council. He is a former NFL player and pastor.
He was also one of the people who supported Andrew and his wife when they lost their daughter, Harper, in 2019 after she was born due to a rare condition called vein of galen malformation, which results in an abnormality of blood vessels.
Harper’s death was a devastating time in the Hughes’ life, but they were able to find a path forward and have since had three children, including a set of twins.
“I thought we would be able to operate on her,” Andrew recalled. “But we were basically given the news before Harper’s birth that she was going to be born alive, but after a certain amount of time she would pass away because her heart would just give out, and there wasn’t anything they could do.
“Scott was not only a good pastor during that time, he was also a great friend. He called me every week. He prayed with me for several months. He is just a very, very godly man who practices what he preaches, so I have hit the jackpot when it comes to bosses. I feel very lucky and very blessed. I have worked very hard, and sometimes that’s what it takes, a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck.”
Hance said Hughes’ high-profile position is one that enhances the reputation of Texas Tech around the world.
“It should make every Texas Tech Red Raider proud and happy that he is in a high position in government helping solve housing problems,” he said. “He is a superstar to be in his position at such a young age.”
Praise like that notwithstanding, Andrew is certain about one thing. Texas Tech prepared and equipped him for whatever might be next in life, whether that was mountaintop or valley.
“When I think about Texas Tech and ‘From Here, It’s Possible™,’ I think it’s very similar to living in America,” he said. “If you work hard, you can do anything. Dream big and work hard.”
