As an Ohioan, I sympathize with the plight of Texas Republican primary voters. Here in the Buckeye State, we are dealing with our own poorly polling statewide candidate in Vivek Ramaswamy.
President Donald Trump has declined to endorse in the Texas Senate race, but the contest has been largely framed as a binary choice between perhaps the worst Republican currently holding statewide office, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), and perhaps the least moral human being currently running for office anywhere, state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
We are told by the establishment that while Cornyn is weak on the issues, he would almost certainly beat whoever emerges from a Democratic primary that consists of Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a hard-left socialist in the vein of AOC, and State Rep. James Talarico, who could be described as a more blasphemous Beto O’Rourke. Paxton’s supporters insist that in an era where Trump leads the party, and less-than-savory characters occupy prominent roles, voters should simply ignore Paxton’s many personal and professional scandals.
There is, however, a third man in the race who carries both a solid voting record in Congress and a personal life that is, by all accounts, above reproach: Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX).
Cornyn has earned a reputation as one of the worst-offending milquetoast Republicans for good reason.
On gun rights, the incumbent has been a five-alarm dumpster fire. Cornyn was the lead GOP negotiator on the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant federal gun legislation in a generation, which expanded background checks, incentivized states to enact red flag laws, and opened the door to future federal leverage over state gun laws. In a post-Bruen legal environment, where firearm regulations must be grounded in historical tradition, Cornyn chose accommodation over principle and the will of his own constituents.
By contrast, Hunt said he would repeal the BSCA and has taken an uncompromising position on Second Amendment rights since joining Congress. The only real knock on Hunt since taking office is his higher-than-normal percentage of missed congressional votes. But to very loosely quote President Calvin Coolidge: It is better to miss votes than to vote away the God-given rights of free men and women.
While Paxton has positioned himself as tougher and more MAGA than Cornyn, his list of scandals is longer than Interstate 10 through the Lone Star State. Paxton dealt with a securities fraud indictment for a decade, stemming from his time as a private citizen. He also found himself engulfed in a whistleblower scandal, with eight of his current or former aides alleging that the attorney general had abused his power to benefit political donors. A judge awarded aides $6.7 million after finding that Paxton had violated the Texas Whistleblowers Act.
Paxton was impeached by the Texas House, and allegations regarding his affair with a big-time donor’s employee are unlikely to sit well with swing voters. With Hunt, you have a candidate every bit as conservative as Paxton, but without the baggage. Hunt is a husband and father of three, an Army captain, and a Baptist who attends Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston.
WHY TRUMP’S PUSH FOR STATE VOTER ROLLS MATTERS
Most political observers assume that Democrats will, once again, fail to get their white whale in Texas. But it is important to remember that it was seen as a major upset when former President George W. Bush won West Virginia in 2000. The state had been a Democratic stronghold for a generation and is now the reddest state in America. States are safe, until they aren’t.
According to recent polls, both Cornyn and Paxton are running one or two percentage points ahead of Crockett and Talarico, while Hunt bests them by three or four. Even if the uninspiring Cornyn or the scandal-plagued Paxton emerges victorious in the primary, they will likely be the favorite in the general election. But the midterm elections are always an uphill climb for the party in power. With President Trump’s approval rating currently underwater, 2026 is not the year to play games with inferior candidates.
Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a writer, musician, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.
