Name: Hunt is the first Texas Republican that the Congressional Leadership Fund has announced plans to buy ads for, with at least $3 million committed.
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Hunt is the first Texas Republican that the Congressional Leadership Fund has announced plans to buy ads for, with at least $3 million committed.

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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateWASHINGTON — As the GOP tries to take back the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in November — and prove it can still win in the suburbs — it’s homing in on a west Houston district Republicans lost in 2018 for the first time since the 1960s.The party is going all in on Wesley Hunt, an Army veteran challenging freshman Democrat U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, as Houston’s newly blue seventh congressional district emerges as one of Republicans’ top targets in the nation.TEXAS TAKE:Hunt is the first Texas Republican that the Congressional Leadership Fund has announced plans to buy ads for — at least $3 million, a big chunk of the $43 million in ads the group has so far reserved nationwide. The National Republican Congressional Committee, meanwhile, added Hunt to its list of top contenders and will likely back Hunt with even more spending in the district, which includes much of Houston’s wealthy western suburbs and the Energy Corridor.Democrats, who also view the district as priority and will likely spend heavily there, say Republicans are grasping and the district has shifted away from them as suburban voters revolted against President Donald Trump in 2018.Fletcher has already stockpiled $2.7 million to fend off Hunt, who emerged from a primary fight with just more than $432,000 to spend, despite being one of Republicans’ best non-incumbent congressional fundraisers.The stakes are high for the GOP: A win in the district — which Republicans held for 60 years, starting with George H.W. Bush — would show the party can still compete in the suburbs, even with Trump on the ticket. It’s one of two congressional districts in suburban Texas where Republicans are going on the offensive, as Democrats emboldened after the midterms target a half-dozen seats.“If we’re going to take back the majority, this is the kind of place we’re going to need to win,” said Bob Salera, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. “It’s a traditionally Republican suburban district that has moved as its population has grown, it’s moved toward being more of a swing district.”But, Salera said: “The fact is Republicans are still able to win here.”CAMPAIGNING AMID COVID-19:While voters in Congressional District 7 picked Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016 and two years later rejected U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz — who lives in the district, yet lost it to Beto O’Rourke by seven points — several Republicans carried it in 2018, including Gov. Greg Abbott, Comptroller Glenn Hegar, Land Commissioner George P. Bush and Railroad Commissioner Christi Craddick.“It’s a purple district that leans ever so slightly pink,” said Mark P. Jones, a political scientist at Rice University.“If you had to look for the vestiges of country club Republicans … you’d find them in CD7,” Jones said. “But it’s a very well-educated district and therefore its voters tend to be more likely to split their ticket between candidates from different parties. It’s one of the districts least likely to have pure partisan voting.”Fletcher, an energy attorney, has tried to walk a tight balance during her first term in office — especially , where she’s forcefully pushed back against Democrats’ most progressive proposals such as the Green New Deal and a ban on fracking. She’s often worked with Republicans as well, including on legislation to speed disaster recovery funding to Houston.And with former Vice President Joe Biden at the top of ticket, it will be harder for Republicans to paint Fletcher as a socialist than it would have been if U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders had nabbed the nomination, Jones said. Biden had an 8 percentage point lead over Trump among college educated whites in a Wall Street Journal and NBC News released this week. Congressional District 7 has the second highest share of college-educated voters in the state.‘IT’S A DEMOCRATIC TRAGEDY’:Democrats, meanwhile, will likely do all they can to tie Hunt to Trump, who endorsed him in the primary. Trump lost the district by 1.4 points in 2016.“Congresswoman Fletcher campaigned on bringing Houston’s voice to Washington, and since being sworn in to Congress, she has done so,” said Erin Mincberg, a senior adviser to Fletcher’s campaign. “Baseless, partisan attacks will ring hollow to Houston voters, who witness daily the congresswoman’s thoughtful approach to her job — building on Houston’s role as the energy capital of the world to address the dual challenge for our energy future, protecting and expanding our access to health care and fighting to secure the federal support our community and our country need in the wake of COVID-19.”Still, Republicans say Fletcher has rarely gone against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — including voting to impeach the president, a vote the NRCC said “destroys any chance she has for re-election” just minutes after she cast it.Hunt throughout the campaign has sought to brand Fletcher as too progressive for the district.“People here want a representative that’s going to represent them — not the priorities Pelosi and the Squad and the other liberals in the Democratic Party are pushing,” said Jim Hilk, who runs Hunt’s campaign.The NRCC says Hunt — a graduate of the U.S. military academy at West Point who spent eight years in the Army as an Aviation Branch Officer and helicopter pilot — is one of their best recruits of the cycle.FOR SUBSCRIBERS:Hunt has proven to be a prolific fundraiser, which will matter in one of the most expensive media markets in the nation. The Congressional Leadership Fund spent nearly $4 million there in 2018 trying to defend former U.S. Rep. John Culberson, the Republican Fletcher unseated whose campaign spent another nearly $2 million on ads, according to media tracking services reviewed by Hearst Newspapers.Hunt raised a massive $920,000 in the first quarter of the year, the most of any of Republican challenger in the nation during that quarter, Salera said. Fletcher outpaced him by more than $100,000, but the fundraising will help Hunt make the race competitive.Beyond that, Hunt, who is black, is a “very attractive candidate” for a “Republican Party that is desperately in need of more diversity,” Jones said. U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, a West Texas Republican, is the only black Republican in the House, and he’s retiring at the end of the year.“He’s a dynamic candidate,” Salera said. “He has a great background — West Point grad, Army veteran, he’s really the whole package we’re looking for.”ben.wermund@chron.com

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateWASHINGTON — As the GOP tries to take back the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in November — and prove it can still win in the suburbs — it’s homing in on a west Houston district Republicans lost in 2018 for the first time since the 1960s.The party is going all in on Wesley Hunt, an Army veteran challenging freshman Democrat U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, as Houston’s newly blue seventh congressional district emerges as one of Republicans’ top targets in the nation.TEXAS TAKE:Hunt is the first Texas Republican that the...

Hunt is the first Texas Republican that the Congressional Leadership Fund has announced plans to buy ads for, with at least $3 million committed.

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