Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas, defying Senate GOP leadership and adding a new element to an already contentious primary campaign.

The two-term Houston-area congressman said he's running because he doesn't believe Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, who's had a cool relationship with President Donald Trump, has shown he can beat Attorney General Ken Paxton, who's running despite being shadowed by legal and personal issues.

“What I’ve seen in polling over the past few months is people want an alternative, and I’m going to give it to them,” Hunt said in an Associated Press interview on Sunday.

Senate Republican leaders have worried aloud that questions that have dogged Paxton, who entered the race in April, would cost the party many millions more do

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