A GOP Candidate for a Changing Texas
Jeremiah Schaefer
Helms School of Government, Liberty University
GOVT 327: State and Local Government
Professor Aaron S. Van Allen
November 1, 2020
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Texas is Changing
Texas is currently one of the major battleground states of the 2020 election. Adam Serwer
writing in the Atlantic stated, “Texas’s electoral votes haven’t gone to a Democratic presidential
candidate since Jimmy Carter won the state in 1976. No Democrat has won a statewide election
since 1994…But today Democrats are hoping to gain control of the state House for the first time
in 17 years, and maybe even hand Texas’s 38 electoral votes to Joe Biden.” (Serwer, 2020) This
has been a story for the past few years and became especially visible when Ted Cruz defeated his
democratic challenger, Beto O’Rourke, by less than 3 percentage points. (Texas Senate Election
Results: Beto O'Rourke vs. Ted Cruz 2019) One of the Congressional races that clearly evidenced
this trend was in District 7 where Lizzie Fletcher defeated a Republican incumbent who had held
the seat for 18 years. (Lundstrom & Walters, 2018) This year, Wesley Hunt is challenging her in
an attempt to take the seat back for the GOP.
District 7
Texas District 7 is located in the suburbs to the West of Houston. It has a relatively high
household income level at $72,287 and while the average home is worth $262,500, home
ownership is more than 12% lower than the national average. (Congressional District 7, TX)
Data USA reports that “The largest industries in Congressional District 7, TX are Professional,
Scientific, & Technical Services (43,948 people), Retail Trade (41,731 people), and Health Care
& Social Assistance (40,717 people)…” (Congressional District 7, TX) Although the energy
industry is not one of the major employers in the district, it is a big player in the larger area
economy and contributes indirectly to the economic well-being of the district.
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Wesley Hunt
Wesley Hunt is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point who then
served 8 years as an attack helicopter pilot. (Wesley Hunt for Texas) As a combat veteran with
one tour in Iraq and two in Saudi Arabia, Hunt has strong appeal to the large population of
veterans within District 7. (Congressional District 7, TX) Although he has a strong military
background, the defense industry does not have a major presence in the district and is not a major
contributor of funds to either Fletcher or Hunt. According to OpenSecrets.org, a non-profit
organization that focuses on money in politics, Fletcher received $7,086 from defense industry
entities while Hunt only received $1,998. (Texas District 07 2020 Race) The most visible aspect
of Hunt’s campaign and the area in which he tries the hardest to distinguish himself from
Fletcher is on the issue of energy, particularly oil and gas. The top item on the section of his
campaign website devoted to issues states, "Defeating the Green New Deal and defending
Houston’s Energy Jobs.” (Wesley Hunt for Texas) As such, the oil and gas industry has strong
favored him over Fletcher. Hunt received $368,980 while Fletcher got $252,977. One of the
other significant group of voters to win over, and the most significant contributor for Hunt’s
campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org, is retired voters and their representative PAC’s.
OpenSecrets.org reports that Hunt has received $838,123 from groups who lobby on behalf of
retired voters.
Vulnerabilities
One of the biggest concerns for Hunt is the fact that the district, while traditionally
leaning Republican, has become much more ethnically diverse. According to Data USA which
sourced their information from Census Bureau estimates, the district is majority minority with
white people making up just 40.7% of the electorate while Hispanics account for 21.8% and
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Blacks, 14.7%. (Congressional District 7, TX) Hunt must make a concerted effort to win over
minority voters, most importantly Hispanics. The second danger that he needs to watch out for is
becoming an ideological lightning rod that would repel moderates, but more importantly would
draw outside spending opposing him. In this category, Hunt has a dramatic advantage over
Fletcher. Outside PAC’s have spent over $3,000,000 opposing Fletcher while only about 1.4
million dollars has been spent in opposition to Hunt. (Texas District 07 2020 Race)
Campaign Strategy
So far, Hunt has campaigned based upon his strong support for oil and gas and an
emphasis on his personal history of military service to the nation. Hunt scored a critical interview
and endorsement by Joe Rogan when he appeared on his enormously popular podcast on October
15, just weeks before the election. (Rogan & Hunt, 2020) He has portrayed himself as a serious
yet fun-loving and interesting person who genuinely desires to knit the fabric of the country back
together and be a figure of change in Washington, D.C. (Rogan & Hunt, 2020)
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References
Center for Responsive Politics. Texas District 07 2020 Race. OpenSecrets.
https://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary?cycle=2020.
Congressional District 7, TX. Data USA. https://datausa.io/profile/geo/congressional-district-7-
tx.
Lundstrom, K., & Walters, E. (2018, November 7). Democrat Lizzie Fletcher defeats Texas GOP
Congressman John Culberson. The Texas Tribune.
https://www.texastribune.org/2018/11/06/democrat-lizzie-fletcher-against-texas-gop-
congressman-john-culberson/.
Rogan, J., & Hunt, W. (2020, October 15). Joe Rogan Experience #1550 - Wesley Hunt.
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_7s1EKhSwo.
Serwer, A. (2020, November 3). How Texas Turned Purple.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/11/texas-turning-blue/616978/.
The New York Times. (2019, January 28). Texas Senate Election Results: Beto O'Rourke vs. Ted
Cruz. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/texas-senate.
Wesley Hunt for Texas. Wesley for Texas. https://wesleyfortexas.com/.
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