Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas has missed 92% of congressional votes in 2026 while campaigning for U.S. Senate, according to a “Where’s Waldo”-themed website tracking his missed votes.
The website, WheresWesleyHunt.com, was launched by the GOP incumbent that Mr. Hunt is trying to oust in the primary, Sen. John Cornyn.
Mr. Hunt’s absence Thursday almost cost House Republicans a loss on a Democrat-led war powers resolution that called for President Trump to “remove United States Armed Forces from Venezuela, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization for use of military force.”
Chaos erupted on the House floor as the vote was stuck at 215-214 in favor of the resolution for over 20 minutes as Republicans waited for Mr. Hunt to show up. House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, reportedly called him earlier in the day and told him to get to Washington, and then provided a police escort to speed up the 26-mile drive from Dulles Airport to the Capitol.
Mr. Hunt showed up at the 11th hour, rushing to the floor and casting the final “no” vote needed to defeat the resolution with a 215-215 tie.
When confronted by reporters about his absence as he dashed out of the chamber, Mr. Hunt’s only focus was on the impending winter storm.
“Y’all be safe. Y’all be safe. The storm is coming,” he said.
The Hunt campaign described his nick-of-time vote as heroic, saying he raced back to Capitol Hill and “stood up to the radical left and defended President Trump’s foreign policy agenda in the House.”
Mr. Hunt posted an interview clip to social media Friday in which he defended his low attendance record as just part of running for higher office.
“Tim Scott missed over 120 votes when he ran for president,” he said of the South Carolina Republican. “It’s the third highest of any senator in the last decade. And nobody said a word.”
Mr. Hunt said anytime he is told his vote is needed, he gets on a plane back to Washington. He is spending more time in Texas, he said, because he is “working tirelessly to retire” Mr. Cornyn, who has been in the Senate for 24 years.
“I’m running for Senate because a lot of President Trump’s agenda is caught up in the Senate, because we have weak Republicans that won’t nuke the filibuster and won’t get his agenda through,” he said.
Mr. Cornyn has shown up regularly for votes in the Senate ahead of the March 3 primary in which he is vying not only from Mr. Hunt but also Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The Cornyn team has been tracking Mr. Hunt’s absences. They said the congressman missed 24% of all House floor votes in 2025, far higher than the congressional average of 2%.
The Where’s Wesly Hunt website logged all the congressman’s missed votes since the House reconvened on Jan. 6.
“Wesley Hunt refuses to do his job while accepting a $174,000 salary paid for by taxpayers,” said Cornyn campaign senior adviser Matt Mackowiak. “His selfishness is not just embarrassing; it is imperiling the Trump agenda at a time when Republicans have a razor-thin margin.”
He added: “Wesley Hunt needs to explain to his constituents why his own political ambition is more important than the future of the country and legislatively advancing Trump’s agenda.”
Mr. Hunt, who took his campaign to a different city every day for the past 12 days, said that “not a single person” has asked him why he is missing House votes.
“They want to know why John Cornyn implemented red flag laws on the people of Texas,” he said, referring to a bipartisan gun safety bill enacted after the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
A recent Emerson College/Nexstar Media poll found Mr. Paxton narrowly leading the race with 27% support, Mr. Cornyn with 26% and Mr. Hunt with 16%. Another 29% were undecided.
The crowded primary, which also includes a handful of lesser-known Republicans, makes it likely that no single candidate will get to the 50% needed to avoid a May runoff.
