DALLAS — When Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) entered the Texas Senate race, Republican leaders portrayed him as an egomaniac who’d needlessly prolong an already messy GOP primary with no chance of winning.
But less than two weeks out from the March 3 contest, Hunt has become enough of a threat that he’s drawn more than $9.3 million in attack ads from groups backing his rivals: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).
“It really fires me up because I know that a couple of months ago, this was a vanity project. I didn’t have a chance and no one knew who I was,” Hunt said, referring to a NRSC memo on his campaign. “Now you’re spending money against me.”
Both rivals dismissed Hunt while campaigning this week.
“I’m not really focused on Wesley,” Paxton said. “My job is to take out Cornyn.”
“He won’t be a factor after March 3,” Cornyn said of Hunt. “He can’t win.”
But the spending indicates Hunt is a big factor at the moment.
3D Chess. Hunt’s presence in the race all but ensures no candidate will clear 50% in the March 3 primary. Top Senate Republicans were furious that their mission to stop Paxton will very likely extend into a May runoff.
The big question with Hunt’s bid was whether he would siphon more voters away from Cornyn or Paxton.
A credible case can be made for either. Hunt could pull the anti-incumbent vote away from Paxton, especially because Cornyn allies are bashing Paxton on TV.
But clearly Team Cornyn is growing concerned that Hunt could block the incumbent from the runoff.
One pro-Cornyn super PAC hit Hunt on TV in November. By February, Cornyn’s joint fundraising committee had aired anti-Hunt ads, as had a mystery outside group that hasn’t disclosed its donors.
Paxton’s super PAC is also airing an anti-Hunt ad this month. The most likely reason behind this: Paxton would rather face Cornyn in a runoff than Hunt.
“Both of them are aiming their guns at him, so that kind of tells you something,” said former Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), the current Dallas County GOP chair who introduced Hunt at a meet-and-greet this week.
Sparks fly. The Hunt and Cornyn campaigns have reached a new level of vitriol, taunting each other daily. Cornyn allies have relentlessly slammed Hunt for voting in the 2008 Democratic primary, as well as his massive amount of congressional absences.
Hunt filed a police report this week accusing a top Cornyn aide of doxxing him by posting personal information about Hunt online.
“Let [Cornyn] go to the gutter and completely discredit himself,” Hunt said in an interview. Cornyn casts himself as “the honorable guy that’s running,” Hunt said. “But he is running a sewer campaign.”
Here’s something interesting: Hunt treads carefully with Paxton. He declined to say whether Paxton’s ethics scandals were disqualifying.
“People are less concerned about that,” Hunt said. “They’re actually more concerned about career politicians, and that’s exactly what he is.”
That’s an indication Hunt doesn’t want to completely alienate Paxton supporters he might need to peel off — if he makes a runoff.
