The candidate for Congress from Texas, Republican Wesley Hunt, believes that in these midterm elections the economy and inflation will lead to a “great red wave, particularly when it comes to black and Latino people.”
A record 178 black candidates are running this year as Republicans. Although these voters make up a large pro-Democrat bloc, Republicans have tried to expand their messages to those communities in recent years. “Black people are not monolithic, we can think for ourselves,” Hunt tweeted.
A recent survey of Wall Street Journal found that about 17% of black voters said they would vote for a Republican congressional candidate and not a Democrat, an increase from previous election cycles.
While many black voters support conservative values, Tasha Philpot, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, said black conservatism often doesn’t translate into support for Republicans because of racially conservative policies that can be “downright hostile.”
Most Republicans don’t trust the electoral system. A red wave could change that, Hunt said. “What I’m really focused on is the policies that will get us out of the situation that we’re in right now,” he said.
Hunt, a former US Army captain and Iraq War veteran, is facing Democrat Duncan Klussmann, former superintendent of the Spring Branch Independent School District, in the race for Texas District 38.
