Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told Newsmax Tuesday that Rep. Wesley Hunt's decision to enter the state's GOP U.S. Senate primary late will be costly for Republicans.
Hunt entered the Republican U.S. Senate primary on Oct. 6, 2025, joining incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton in the three-way contest.
If no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote in Tuesday's primary, the top two finishers will face off in a runoff election on May 26.
"I don't think Wesley Hunt gets to the ... runoff," Patrick said on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
He questioned what the margin between Paxton and Cornyn would be if they were to face each other in a runoff.
Patrick said he thinks Hunt voters will go toward Paxton, while continuing to question why Hunt got in the race in the first place.
"Wesley just cost the Republican Party millions and millions of dollars. And when Wesley got in it — the third person — he guaranteed a runoff because he's going to get, you know, 12, 14, 18, 20% of the vote," he said.
"There are a lot of people in Texas not happy that he got in the race late and forced a runoff that otherwise would be over tonight," Patrick added.
"Instead, you're going to have three more months of campaigning, a lot of negative campaigning going both ways. And that's not healthy for the party," he continued.
"I'm not sure why Wesley got in, but it's going to cost everyone a lot of money."
Patrick said unless Hunt's support collapses, the race will head to a runoff, and he expects Paxton to be in the lead.
"Ken's been leading the entire time in this race, but I'm not sure how much the gap is going to be between them," he said.
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Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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