DALLAS (AP) — Texas U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt's rivals have increased their attacks on the two-term Republican ahead of Tuesday’s GOP primary for U.S. Senate. It's a sign, he says, that they see him as a threat.
“As an Apache helicopter pilot, it means I must be right over the target zone,” the Iraq War veteran told about 50 people during a recent event at Dallas GOP headquarters.
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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks during a campaign stop in Austin, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks to a supporter during a campaign event, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Tyler, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, arrives at a campaign event, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Roger Phillips, left, wears a United States flag inspired outfit as he listens to U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, speak at a campaign event, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Roger Phillips, left, wears a United States flag inspired outfit as he listens to U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, speak at a campaign event Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, speaks at a campaign event, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Hunt was a late entry to what was a head-to-head GOP contest between four-term Republican Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton. For much of the race, he has been seen as the trailing candidate who would prevent any candidate from winning the race outright, forcing a May runoff.
In recent weeks, both Cornyn and Paxton have been spending more heavily on ads criticizing Hunt, suggesting the two better-known, statewide elected officials see him as complicating their paths to the nomination.
More than anything, the late development punctuates Cornyn’s vulnerable predicament as he tries to avoid being the first Republican senator in Texas history to lose a renomination bid.
If no candidate receives at least 50 percent of the vote on Tuesday, the nomination will be decided by a May 26 runoff election of the top two finishers.
Cornyn, who has said he expects to be in a runoff with Paxton, must keep Hunt from surging past him in the primary’s final days. Meanwhile Paxton could make a run at reaching 50% and winning the nomination outright by dampening support for Hunt, the other Cornyn alternative.
“I think it suggests Paxton thinks he might be able to get to 50 percent, and that Hunt is polling too close,” said Wayne Hamilton, a Republican strategist unaffiliated with any of the Senate candidates and an adviser to Gov. Greg Abbott. “And Cornyn may be seeing Hunt ticking up too close.”
Hunt, who represents Houston’s northwest suburbs, says he's more than just a spoiler, and can be the nominee.
“I was told this was going to be a vanity project and that I didn’t have a chance,” Hunt told reporters after his Dallas event. “If that were the case, then why are they spending all this money attacking me?”
Cornyn's campaign and allied super PACs have been airing ads criticizing Hunt, including one noting that he voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. Hunt has said he voted for Clinton as part of a conservative-led effort to help GOP nominee John McCain by complicating the prolonged 2008 Democratic nominating campaign, won by Barack Obama.
But Hunt has hardly been the primary focus of Cornyn and his supporters, which include Senate Republican leaders. Of the more than $63 million Cornyn and his allies have spent on TV, most of the attacks have been aimed at Paxton, according to the ad-tracking service AdImpact.
A super PAC supporting Paxton also began airing ads critiquing Hunt this month, notably for his absences from the House as he has been campaigning around Texas as the least-known of the three candidates.
Combined, the various groups have spent at least $8.3 million on ads attacking Hunt, according to AdImpact. The figure includes $2.3 million in ads that began on or after early voting began on Feb. 16. Almost $7 million has been by Cornyn's campaign or allied groups, while nearly $1.4 million has come from a group backing Paxton, Lonestar Liberty PAC.
Hunt has portrayed himself as the most devoted to the president, though none of the three have received Trump's endorsement. He was an early endorser of Trump's 2024 campaign and appeared regularly as a surrogate for his comeback campaign two years ago.
Hunt entered the race in October seeing an opportunity against Cornyn, a former state Supreme Court judge who has fallen out of favor with a segment of the Republican primary electorate due in part to his dismissal of Trump’s 2024 candidacy early on in his bid. Trump went on to carry Texas by almost 14 percentage points.
Cornyn also became a target of conservatives because he supported a gun-control measure after the 2022 deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
“I would never vote for Cornyn,” said Bob Burns, a 74-year-old retired manufacturing executive from Dallas who attended Hunt’s appearance at the GOP office. He described the incumbent as out of step with today’s GOP.
Burns said he will vote for Hunt because he's “new” and “can carry on Trump’s good work.” He also likes Hunt’s support for a two-term limit for U.S. senators.
Hunt especially saw an opening as an alternative to Paxton, who Senate Republican campaign leaders in Washington have worried would cost many millions more to defend in a general election campaign. Paxton has faced a failed 2023 impeachment trial and accusations of extramarital affairs.
Hunt, 44, reflects a next-generation look for Texas Republicans choosing between him, Cornyn, who is 74 and been in the Senate since 2003, and Paxton, who is 63 and been attorney general since 2015.
In the end, some Texas Republicans say Hunt may have only prolonged an already long and bitter primary campaign by forcing the runoff, perhaps without him.
“The biggest thing that’s happened in the race is Hunt’s getting in," said Tyler Norris, a Texas Republican strategist unaffiliated with any of the Senate candidates. “But, so far, his major contribution is to guarantee a runoff where Paxton and Cornyn will spend tens of millions more to attack each other.”
Associated Press reporter John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas contributed to this report.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, speaks during a campaign stop in Austin, Texas, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks to a supporter during a campaign event, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Tyler, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, arrives at a campaign event, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Roger Phillips, left, wears a United States flag inspired outfit as he listens to U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, speak at a campaign event, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Roger Phillips, left, wears a United States flag inspired outfit as he listens to U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, speak at a campaign event Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, R-Texas, speaks at a campaign event, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told U.S. House lawmakers in New York on Thursday that she had no knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s or Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes, starting off two days of depositions that will also include former President Bill Clinton.
“I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein,” Hillary Clinton said in an opening statement she shared on social media.
The closed-door depositions in the Clintons' hometown of Chappaqua, a typically quiet hamlet north of New York City, come after months of tense back-and-forth between the former high-powered Democratic couple and the Republican-controlled House Oversight Committee. It will be the first time that a former president has been forced to testify before Congress.
Yet the demand for a reckoning over Epstein's abuse of underage girls has become a near-unstoppable force on Capitol Hill and beyond.
President Donald Trump, a Republican who has expressed regret that the Clintons are being forced to testify, bowed last year to pressure to release case files on Epstein, who killed himself in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. The Clintons, too, agreed to testify after their offers of sworn statements were rebuffed by the Oversight panel and its chairman, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., threatened criminal contempt of Congress charges against them.
“Like every decent person," Hillary Clinton added in her opening statement, “I have been horrified by what we have learned about their crimes.”
She had said that her husband had flown with Epstein for charitable trips but that she did not recall meeting Epstein. She had interacted with Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend and confidant, at conferences hosted by the Clinton Foundation.
Maxwell, a British socialite, also attended the 2010 wedding of their daughter, Chelsea Clinton.
Bill Clinton, however, has emerged as a top target for Republicans amid the political struggle over who receives the most scrutiny for their ties to Epstein. Several photos of the former president were included in the first tranche of Epstein files released by the Department of Justice in January, including a number of him with women whose faces were redacted. Clinton has not been accused of wrongdoing in his relationship with Epstein.
Comer has also pointed to Hillary Clinton's work as secretary of state to address sex trafficking as another reason to insist on her deposition. Clinton defended her work to address sex trafficking around the world, saying that it remained important to help the millions of survivors of sex trafficking.
The committee's investigation has also sought to understand why the Department of Justice under previous presidential administrations did not seek further charges against Epstein following a 2008 arrangement in which he pleaded guilty to state charges in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl but avoided federal charges.
Hillary Clinton accused Comer of running a one-sided investigation that has failed to hold Trump and other Republican officials to account. “This institutional failure is designed to protect one political party and one public official,” she said.
Yet conspiracy theories, especially on the right, have swirled for years around the Clintons and their connections to Epstein and Maxwell, who argues she was wrongfully convicted. Republicans have long wanted to press the Clintons for answers.
Comer pledged lengthy days of questioning for both Clintons.
“We have a lot of questions, and the purpose of the whole investigation is to try to understand many things about Epstein,” he told reporters outside the convention center where the depositions were being held. “How did he accumulate so much wealth? How was he able to surround himself with some of the most powerful men in the world?"
Comer described the deposition as a bipartisan effort and said Thursday that it was “very possible” the committee would question Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was Epstein's neighbor and had several interactions with him. Under questioning from Democrats earlier this month, Lutnick acknowledged that he had met with Epstein twice after the late financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a child, reversing his previous claim that he had cut ties with him after 2005.
Democrats, now being led by a new generation of politicians, have prioritized transparency around Epstein over defending the former leaders of their party. Several Democratic lawmakers joined with Republicans on the Oversight panel to advance the contempt of Congress charges against the Clintons last month. Several said they had no relationship with the Clintons and owed no loyalty to them.
On Thursday, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the Oversight panel, also called on Trump to testify in the investigation. He argued that Bill Clinton’s appearance sets a precedent that should apply to Trump as well.
"Let’s get President Trump in front of our committee to answer the questions that are being asked across this country from survivors,” Garcia said.
Comer previously said that the committee can’t depose Trump because he is a sitting president.
Still, Democrats are also coming off an effort this week to confront Trump about his administration's handling of the Epstein files by taking women who survived Epstein's abuse as their guests to Trump's State of the Union address. Even senior Democrats, such as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, said it was appropriate for the committee to interview anyone, including the former president, who was connected to Epstein.
“We want to hear from everyone,” Pelosi said, adding that she did not see why Hillary Clinton was being interviewed and that it was important to “believe survivors.”
Follow the AP's coverage of Jeffrey Epstein at https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif. Speaks outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center before the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
FILE - Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative, Sept. 24, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)
A podium sits outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center before the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A motorcade carrying former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center where Clinton is scheduled to testify before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A motorcade carrying former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives at the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center where Clinton is scheduled to testify before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A New Castle police officer sets up barricades outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center as members of the media await the arrival of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
FILE - Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at the inaugural Mumbai Climate Week in Mumbai, Feb. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/ Rafiq Maqbool, File)
