Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) is facing mounting scrutiny in a heated Senate primary after critics accused him of inflating claims about his son’s health to explain his poor voting record in Congress.
Hunt, who is seeking President Donald Trump’s endorsement, missed 77 votes in 2025, according to GovTrack — the highest total among House Republicans and nearly ten times more than many colleagues.
When pressed about his attendance, Hunt told reporters in December that he missed “a large swath of votes” because his premature son spent months fighting for his life in the neonatal intensive care unit.
“I missed a large swath of votes because my child was in the NICU for a while when he was first born,” Hunt said.
However, public records and prior statements appear to contradict that account.
Hunt and his wife welcomed their son Willie in December 2022. A 2023 press release described the baby as being born four weeks premature.
In October 2025, Hunt claimed on X that his son was born six weeks early.
In early 2023 interviews, Hunt told C-SPAN his son had spent “a couple of weeks” in the NICU and that “everyone is doing perfectly well.”
Days later, he told Steve Bannon that his son was “out of the NICU, gaining weight.”
Yet in a 2025 press release, Hunt described the same period as his son “fighting for his life” and spending “the first months of his life” in intensive care.
Voting records show Hunt did not miss votes during the initial NICU stay in late 2022 and early 2023, per the Daily Mail.
The largest cluster of missed votes occurred later, during January and February 2023, when social media posts showed the family out together and Hunt publicly stating that everyone was doing well.
Hunt’s primary opponents, John Cornyn and Ken Paxton, have seized on the inconsistencies.
Additional controversy has emerged over Hunt’s voting history before Congress.
Documents show Hunt cast a provisional ballot in November 2016 that was not counted because he was not registered to vote.
In an affidavit that day, Hunt reportedly stated he had been discharged from the military in October 2016 and had not registered in time.
However, his official military discharge papers list his separation from service as occurring in 2012.
Advisers aligned with Cornyn have accused Hunt of providing inaccurate information in the sworn statement, though no vote was ultimately counted.
Hunt has also drawn attention for missing more than 90 percent of scheduled votes in one recent month, though one vote was held open so he could arrive and break a tie.
Despite frequently describing himself as a loyal surrogate for Trump, the president has not yet endorsed him in the primary.
A recent University of Houston poll placed Hunt third at 17%, trailing Paxton at 38% and Cornyn at 31%.
Early voting in the Texas primary begins February 17, with the first round set for March 3.
As the contest intensifies, Hunt’s attendance record and shifting public statements are becoming central campaign issues.
