Some Republican operatives hope Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) is the candidate who could keep a Texas Senate seat red in the 2026 midterm elections, as Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-TX) chances of winning reelection remain shaky.
While Cornyn has held the seat for over two decades, he has faced rising opposition from conservatives in recent years due to accusations that he’s a Republican in name only, or “RINO.” Political operatives in the state have warned that neither Cornyn nor his primary challenger, longtime foe Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, will be able to keep the Senate seat red. Polling shows that while Paxton could best Cornyn in the primary, he could lose to a Democrat in the general election.
Hunt has emerged in recent months as an alternative candidate without the political baggage that critics fear is following Cornyn and Paxton’s campaigns. Hunt could make overtures to the GOP base and moderates he’d need to pull off a win.
“Wesley Hunt wins a primary and he wins a general,” an unaligned Republican operative who has worked on Senate campaigns in Texas and believes Hunt has a pathway to winning, told the Texas Tribune. “And frankly, it doesn’t break the back of the Republican fundraising apparatus to get there.”
Proponents admit that Hunt, an Army veteran representing the Houston area in Texas’s 38th Congressional District, has one key vulnerability: he has held office for under three years, meaning he lacks key name recognition.
However, Republicans are fighting to remedy the problem.
Groups affiliated with the Republican lawmaker have poured more than $3 million into advertising across the state to introduce Hunt to voters, according to the outlet. And while Hunt has held off entering the race for the time being, his campaign made a six-figure ad buy on the conservative cable channel Newsmax in the Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston areas earlier this month, signaling he’s keeping his options open.
While they have conceded he faces tough competition in the primary due to voter unfamiliarity, half a dozen operatives said Hunt could strategize to siphon off enough votes to keep Paxton under 50% and finish second in the March primary, forcing a May runoff with the attorney general.
The enthusiasm for Hunt in some Republican circles has stoked fears that Paxton and Cornyn have critical vulnerabilities that could lead to losing the Senate seat altogether, which would be devastating for the GOP.
Paxton continues to face criticism after being acquitted of allegations of corruption and bribery following a highly publicized impeachment trial in 2023.
Meanwhile, Cornyn has come under attack from conservatives in the state, including Paxton, for not holding to President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda. Paxton has characterized the four-term senator as an establishment swamp figure, portraying him as an“anti-Trump, anti-gun” candidate who has failed to put the United States ahead of other countries, a key component of the MAGA framework.
Trump has yet to offer an endorsement to either candidate, signaling he could be weighing alternatives, even as Hunt, whom the president weighed nominating as defense secretary, has courted the White House ahead of a possible bid.
“I think Cornyn is probably suffering from what’s a larger issue in Texas politics, which is the divide in the Republican Party between a more Trump-supporting version versus a more traditional, business version,” Patrick Flavin, professor and interim chairman of political science at Baylor University, told Newsweek. “Paxton and Cornyn perfectly characterize those two factions in the Republican Party.”
If Paxton wins the primary, as the latest polls show he could, the fiery attorney general faces challenges winning the general election due to a “significant chunk of independent-leaning Republicans” who may be concerned about Paxton, Flavin added.
TEXAS SENATE BALLOTS REMAIN IN LIMBO AS LAWMAKERS WEIGH BIDS
“It would be a much closer race if Paxton is the nominee just because of the polarizing views that people have about him,” he said.
Given Paxton’s vulnerabilities, Democrats believe they may have a chance to flip Cornyn’s Senate seat blue after decades of GOP dominance. Colin Allred, an ex-congressman and former Biden official, launched his campaign earlier this month. Beto O’Rourke, another former Texas Democratic congressman, is also weighing a bid.