Houston Chronicle recommends We recommend Wesley Hunt in GOP primary for the 38th Congressional District

With nearly complete control over the redistricting process last fall, Texas Republicans were faced with a tough choice in Harris County: make life tougher for a House Democrat such as Lizzie Fletcher in a swing district, or draw up a brand new district for one of the GOP’s favored candidates. The result was the 38th Congressional District that carves out chunks of several districts to form an ultra-red seat in western Harris County. The new district map resembles an oak tree, roots splayed from Barker Reservoir in the west to River Oaks in the east, its trunk extending north through Jersey Village, and branches and leaves stretching through Cypress and Tomball.

Hours after a draft of this map was unveiled in September, Republican Wesley Hunt declared he would run in the new district. Hunt, 40, who ran for the 7th Congressional District in 2020 and lost to Fletcher by 10,000 votes, is considered a rising star in the Texas GOP. He’s a West Point graduate who flew Apache helicopters in Iraq and spent 20 years in the Army, later earning three master’s degrees from Cornell. He’s been endorsed by both Sen. Ted Cruz and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and has a formidable campaign war chest, with $1.5 million on hand as of January. While the district is tailored for Hunt to win, his campaign thus far has shown he’s no establishment hack. He’s one of the most viable and qualified candidates in a crowded Republican primary field. While many primary candidates in this district are steeped in conspiracy theories and fear-mongering, particularly as it pertains to election integrity and the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol, Hunt has focused on traditionally conservative issues, namely border security, reining in federal spending and funding flood infrastructure projects.