Incumbent John Cornyn has been locked in a heated battle with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
By Joseph Morton and Gromer Jeffers Jr.
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt laid out the rationale Monday for his Senate campaign after jumping into the already heated Republican primary between two Texas political heavyweights, incumbent John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Hunt said a primary victory hinges on promoting his credentials as a strong conservative who would prioritize the issues of Texans and Americans.
“Texans want somebody who’s going to be an America First freedom fighter,” Hunt said. “They want somebody who’s going to support their Second Amendment rights. They want somebody who’s going to support border security, and they want somebody who endorsed President [Donald] Trump first in the country, before it was cool.”
Hunt’s candidacy adds a new dimension to a Senate race already expected to be among the most expensive this election cycle. Democrats are watching the Republican primary battle closely, hoping it will provide them an opportunity to flip the seat.
Cornyn and Paxton have been trading shots for months, with Paxton questioning Cornyn’s conservative bona fides and Cornyn casting Paxton as ethically unfit for office.
Hunt said the back-and-forth has turned off Texas Republican primary voters, who would see him as a worthy option.
“People are sick and tired of hearing about a blood feud between Ken Paxton and John Cornyn,” Hunt said. “What I have seen from the primary voter in Texas is that they’re looking for an alternative and I’m that guy.”
Hunt’s potential candidacy has been a wild card in the race for months as the two-term congressman and his allies spent on ads in markets well beyond his Houston area district.
He has sought to boost his profile in the Dallas area and elsewhere in Texas, attacking Democrats as radicals and showcasing himself as a “rising star” with a military background.
After graduating from West Point in 2004, he spent eight years as an Apache helicopter pilot in the Army. He described a Senate campaign focused on issues such as American energy production, border security and public safety.
Hunt is mounting his first campaign for statewide office, and running in a state as large and diverse as Texas can be challenging. He said his efforts would intensify.
“You have to work hard,” Hunt said. “What I have to do is focus on getting my name ID up statewide, which is what I’ve been doing for the past few months.”
Cornyn is seeking a fifth six-year term.
Paxton launched his primary challenge in April, ripping Cornyn as a Republican in name only who is not truly committed to the conservative cause.
Paxton has sharply criticized Cornyn’s work on a bipartisan gun safety measure in the wake of the 2022 Uvalde school shooting in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.
Cornyn also upset Trump fans when he called in May 2023 for the party to find someone else to be its 2024 presidential nominee. After Trump won the New Hampshire primary, Cornyn got on board with his bid for a White House return.
Cornyn has defended himself by highlighting a voting record that tracks closely with Trump. He’s hammered Paxton over what he called failures of character. Paxton was impeached by the Texas House in May 2023.
Paxton faced allegations of bribery, corruption and other wrongdoings in connection to his dealings with Austin businessman Nate Paul.
Paxton denied any wrongdoing and called the proceedings a sham. The Senate acquitted him.
Paxton established an early lead over Cornyn in public polls, some of which showed the attorney general with a substantial advantage. More recent polling has shown a much tighter contest after the Cornyn camp launched a blitz of attacks over the summer.
Paxton’s wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, filed for divorce in July, further complicating his Senate campaign.
Cornyn campaign senior adviser Matt Mackowiak said in a statement the senator has “soared ahead” in the latest polling and will win.
“No one is happier this morning than the national Democrats who are watching Wesley continue his quixotic quest for relevancy, costing tens of millions of dollars that will endanger the Trump agenda from being passed,” Mackowiak said.
The Paxton campaign welcomed Hunt to the race.
“Primaries are good for our party and our voters, and Wesley and General Paxton both know that Texans deserve better than the failed, anti-Trump record of John Cornyn,” Paxton campaign advisor Nick Maddux said in a statement.
The Senate Leadership Fund, a prominent GOP super PAC, criticized Hunt’s campaign launch as helping Democrats.
“It’s unfortunate that Wesley Hunt has decided to abandon President Trump’s efforts to protect the House majority and instead pursue his personal ambitions, also turning his back on the Texans who entrusted him with their vote,” SLF Communications Director Chris Gustafson said in a statement. “With every credible poll showing him in a distant third place, the only person celebrating today is a giddy [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer.”
Hunt said he expects much of the GOP establishment to be against him.
“They’re already against me,” Hunt said. “That means I’m right over the target zone, because the establishment swamp does not pick the leader of Texas. Texans do.”
Hunt said that if elected he would move to draft legislation “to give gun rights back” to Texans and “counteract the gun control legislation” Cornyn helped craft after the Uvalde school shooting.
Cornyn has rejected criticism the bill represented an infringement on the rights of law-abiding American gun owners.
Hunt said Cornyn has been in office too long.
“When John Cornyn first entered into public office, I was 2 years old,” Hunt said. “The United States Senate is not a retirement community, and it’s time for change, and it’s time for new leadership.”
Hunt said one of the reasons he got into the race is because Paxton isn’t fighting hard enough against Cornyn.
“Ken Paxton is a conservative warrior,” Hunt said. “Nobody’s going to argue with you on that, but the issue is that somebody has to fight for this seat, and you can’t sit back and do nothing.”
One question mark in the race is whether Trump will endorse anyone.
Hunt, a Trump ally, joined Cornyn and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, aboard Air Force One as the president flew to Texas to survey damage from the July 4 Hill Country flooding.
Hunt said Trump has stayed out of the race so far because he wants to see how it unfolds and an endorsement from the president must be earned.
“An endorsement can be earned by the right person,” Hunt said. “It’s about the person that fights for Texans and makes the best argument to the voter.”
Joseph Morton covers the intersection of business and politics in the Washington Bureau. Before joining The News, Joseph worked for CQ Roll Call and the Omaha World-Herald. He graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
The Howard University graduate and Chicago native has covered four presidential campaigns and written extensively about local, state and national politics. Before The News, he was a reporter at The Kansas City Star and The Chicago Defender. You can catch Gromer every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. on NBC 5’s Lone Star Politics.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
