U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, who is running for a senate seat in the 2026 midterm elections, prayed with voters at an event in Denton Feb. 18.
Emily Holshouser
U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, a Houston Republican, is running in the March 3 primary election for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn’s seat, along with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Cornyn himself.
Hunt spoke to dozens of supporters inside a clubhouse at the Robson Ranch retirement community in Denton Wednesday evening amid a slew of speeches throughout Texas. Hunt spoke to voters in Midlothian earlier Wednesday before arriving in Denton.
According to the newest University of Texas/Texas Politics Project Poll, Hunt is polling in third place with 26% of the vote. The Republican primary is generally expected to head to a May 26 runoff.
Hunt has a dozen campaign priorities listed on his website, including fighting “waste, fraud, and abuse,” enacting stricter voter registration laws, deploying the military to the border between the U.S. and Mexico, and supporting President Donald Trump.
After an introduction from Denton County GOP Chair Melinda Preston, the West Point graduate opened by telling the crowd about his background. Hunt spent eight years in the Army as an Apache helicopter pilot and flew 55 combat air missions.
“Fifty-five times I knelt down at the end of that helicopter before I climbed into it,” Hunt said. “I said the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm to get right with God, in case I didn’t make it home alive…that’s the kind of service and sacrifice I’m talking about for this great nation.”
Hunt discussed a range of issues, focusing on his desire to remain true to the Trump administration’s priorities. He has said that he was the “first person in the country to endorse Trump.”
The president has not yet endorsed a candidate in the Republican primary.
After Hunt’s speech, he took several questions from voters and met with many of them.
The way Hunt tells it, his campaign isn’t about reinventing the wheel. It’s about injecting fresh life into issues key to the Trump administration — and doing it without becoming a career politician. John Cornyn has been in the Senate since 2002.
“The United States Senate is not the retirement community,” Hunt told the crowd. “24 years for an incumbent is long enough.”
Hunt is a staunch supporter of term limits, and has vowed to limit his time in the Senate to two terms.
Immigration was brought up by both Hunt and the voters at the event, with Hunt taking questions from the audience about H-1B visas being “handed out like candy” and the idea of an “Islamic invasion” in Texas — increasingly common rhetoric describing Texas’ growing Muslim population.
“I am not racist,” Hunt said. “I can promise you that. I am not xenophobic. I can promise you that. We have our own set of laws. We have our own constitutional republic in this country, and when you come here, you must assimilate.”
Hunt also addressed criticisms that he has a spotty voting record in Washington, saying that his young son was hospitalized during in his first term, and more recently, campaigning for both Trump and himself took his attention elsewhere. He emphasized, though, that he would be in Washington when it counts.
“I want you to trust me,” Hunt said. “If it’s something that I need to be there voting for that’s significant…I want you to know that I take it very, very seriously.”
When the Star-Telegram spoke to Hunt after the event, he said aside from codifying Trump’s agenda, he wants to accelerate energy production in Texas.
“Because we’re sitting on a Permian Basin, it’s very important for us to have clean, affordable energy — not just for us, but for the entire country and for the entire world,” Hunt said.
After Hunt spoke, Preston, the GOP Chair, gathered him and the audience in a prayer.
“Father, I pray that you will continue to give him favor; anoint his hands, his feet, his mouth,” Preston said as she led the prayer. “Use him to destroy the schemes of the enemy…Father, give him strategy beyond his years.”
Early voting ends on Feb. 27.
This story was originally published February 26, 2026 at 1:51 AM.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Emily Holshouser is a local news reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.