“Running out of money,” read the post on the social media platform X, “less than $400 remains in my pocket.” It landed on Nov. 13, from an obscure account called @pie0myWesley with just three followers. Anyone else stumbling upon it might have assumed it was a random musing from someone who had seen better days.
The account instead appears to be connected to the Republican Senate campaign of Representative Wesley Hunt of Texas. And one of its followers is @TXGOPFighter, with seeming connections to an outside group helping Mr. Hunt’s candidacy. The two anonymous accounts have spent months sharing strategic information, private polling, messaging advice and media-buying data in what may be an effort to skirt federal law.
That law prohibits candidates from coordinating in private with independent groups such as super PACs. The Hunt campaign and those allies, however, are doing so with a pair of social media accounts in plain sight for those who know where to look.
Mr. Hunt is one of three major candidates in the Republican primary for Senate that Texas will hold on Tuesday. Senator John Cornyn, who has served for more than two decades, is running for re-election and facing a serious threat from Ken Paxton, the state attorney general.
Candidates and super PACs have increasingly become bold in pushing the boundaries on coordination limits. The laws result from a tangle of court rulings, regulations and the idea that groups with no limits on what they may raise could be a corrupting force on politics. The agency responsible for being a watchdog, the Federal Election Commission, has generally done little to crack down on these efforts. The commission, which does not comment on potential cases, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The messages from the X accounts that appear to be linked to Mr. Hunt’s campaign and outside allies show the flimsiness of federal limits on coordination — and offer a rare window into the inner workings of a campaign.
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How Wesley Hunt of Texas Is Working in Plain Sight With Outside Groups
