Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) has launched a Senate run for the seat held by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). Cornyn already faces a primary challenge from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. “The time is NOW. For Faith. For Family. For Freedom. FOR TEXAS. I’m Wesley Hunt, and I’m running for Senate,” Hunt said Monday. Watch his campaign announcement video: The time is NOW. For Faith. For Family. For Freedom.FOR TEXAS. I’m Wesley Hunt, and I’m running for Senate. pic.twitter.com/DHJPl0wnI8 — Wesley Hunt (@WesleyHuntTX) October 6, 2025 More from the Associated Press: The two-term Houston-area congressman said he’s running because he doesn’t believe Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, who’s had a cool relationship with President Donald Trump, has shown he can beat Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’s running despite being shadowed by legal and personal issues. “What I’ve seen in polling over the past few months is people want an alternative, and I’m going to give it to them,” Hunt said in an Associated Press interview on Sunday. Senate Republican leaders have worried aloud that questions that have dogged Paxton, who entered the race in April, would cost the party many millions more dollars to defend in a general election, despite Texas’ Republican lean. Yet, Senate Republican leaders including Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have publicly chided Hunt, who’s been weighing a Senate campaign since April. Hunt has been testing the waters as a potential third way for Texas Republicans as Cornyn and Paxton have waged a contentious battle of words in the media. Since the spring, Hunt and groups supporting him have spent $6.5 million on advertising in Texas, according to the ad-tracking service AdImpact. Groups supporting Cornyn, however, have spent more than $21 million on television ads this year, according AdImpact, to promote the four-term senator and attack Paxton. In a September memo, Thune and Scott said that Cornyn had narrowed his deficit with Paxton and that Hunt “continues to cling to the false narrative he pushed as a justification for his own ambitions.” “When Texans send me to the Senate, they’ll know exactly what they’re getting, a man who will always put Texas first. Born here. Raised here. Raising my family here. And when my time comes, I’ll rest in Texas soil. Every fight, every vote, every decision: Texas FIRST,” Hunt said. When Texans send me to the Senate, they’ll know exactly what they’re getting, a man who will always put Texas first. Born here. Raised here. Raising my family here. And when my time comes, I’ll rest in Texas soil. Every fight, every vote, every decision: Texas FIRST. pic.twitter.com/JUF1PEznaq — Wesley Hunt (@WesleyHuntTX) October 6, 2025 “The D.C. establishment calls my candidacy a vanity project. Let me be clear, when you’ve been shot at by a Russian-made .50 caliber machine gun in combat, when you’ve served this nation in uniform for eight years, when you’re a husband, a father of three, and a proud Texan, there’s nothing vain about standing up for your country. This isn’t about ego. It’s about duty,” the former U.S. Army officer said in another post. The D.C. establishment calls my candidacy a vanity project. Let me be clear, when you’ve been shot at by a Russian-made .50 caliber machine gun in combat, when you’ve served this nation in uniform for eight years, when you’re a husband, a father of three, and a proud Texan,… pic.twitter.com/KpZJrfqOyh — Wesley Hunt (@WesleyHuntTX) October 6, 2025 POLITICO shared further details: Now a three-way battle for the GOP nomination, some Republican strategists anticipate none of the candidates will garner enough votes to win the March 3 primary outright, likely forcing a runoff in May. Privately, some establishment Republicans worry that Hunt’s entry in the race could boost Paxton. Over the summer, the establishment-aligned Senate Leadership Fund urged leaders to boost Cornyn’s embattled reelection campaign, arguing in memo obtained by POLITICO in August that Paxton is a “weak candidate who puts the Senate seat at risk in the general election.” Responding to news that Hunt had launched his bid, SLC communications director Chris Gustafson said, “It’s unfortunate that Wesley Hunt has decided to abandon President Trump’s efforts to protect the House majority and instead his person ambition… With every credible poll showing him in a distant third place, the only person celebrating today is a giddy Chuck Schumer.” President Trump has yet to endorse a candidate in the primary contest.