SAN ANTONIO -- Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) is everywhere in Texas and showing he's working, leaving his supporters unbothered by his lack of attendance in Washington.
Hunt has missed 69 out of the 158 votes in Congress since launching his uphill campaign to unseat longtime Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). Yet, even as the lack of attendance is mocked by opponents, Hunt points to the fact that the time away from Washington has allowed him to visit more than 45 out of Texas's 254 counties and host over 50 events.
"We don't have $100 million, sweat equity is what matters," Hunt told the Washington Examiner in an interview. "Getting in the car and driving, driving hours and hours with a hard-working team that cares about the success of this campaign, cares about the future of Texas and the future of this country, that's how you make a big difference and so I think on Tuesday, people will be very surprised at how well we do."
Hunt, 44, walked into the Angry Elephant on Saturday afternoon in San Antonio, marking his first of two events in the area that day. The second-term congressman was met by enthusiastic voters at the bar.
Hunt spoke on his experience in the military, his faith, cracked jokes, and even addressed attack ads that have been plastered across Texas targeting him for missing votes in Washington.
"Do you know how many votes JD Vance missed when he was running for vice president? All of them," Hunt explained. "Do you know how many votes Tim Scott missed when he was running for president? 150, the third most in the history of the Senate. This is what is required to get your voice out; you have to miss some votes to do it."
When the Washington Examiner asked rallygoers how they would describe Hunt, two sentiments were repeatedly echoed: "honest" and "patriotic."
"He doesn't give canned answers," 51-year-old Stacey Pierce told the Washington Examiner. "To every question here, he gave a little bit of his personality with it; he told us off-the-cuff-type remarks, funny or not funny."
Hunt has increasingly been targeted by the National Republican Senatorial Committee after he jumped in the already competitive race between Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The longtime Texas senator, who has missed one vote this year, repeatedly bashed Hunt on social media over his missed votes in Washington. Cornyn's campaign even launched a website titled "Where's Wesley Hunt" earlier this year to mock the congressman's poor attendance in a Where's Waldo Style.
"You can find something bad on everybody," 61-year-old Al Guadagno told the Washington Examiner when asked about the attack ads on Hunt's voting record. "You're not always going to agree with everything each individual does, but we have a good feeling about him, and I just think he just comes across as a genuine individual. I like his family values, so I think he's going to do the right thing, and I think it will be voting on the right side when it really matters."
Hunt was born and raised in Houston, where he later attended the United States Military Academy at West Point before serving eight years in the Army as an Apache helicopter pilot. In his tour of Iraq, Hunt flew 55 combat air missions and took part in two deployments to Saudi Arabia as a diplomatic liaison officer.
Voters across the state will head to the polls Tuesday, March 3 for the last day of voting in the state before Hunt's fate is sealed. With three major candidates in the race, it is expected to go into a run-off with the top two candidates, where they will then face each other again at a May 26 runoff election.