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Our verdict

LiberalMind endorses Keith Self

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026, and voting is already underway in Texas. This is the whole race — the records, the claims against each candidate, and what the sources actually show. Read the research, and decide which flaw you can live with.

The setup

Texas's 3rd District covers Collin and Hunt counties — McKinney, eastern Plano, Allen, and Greenville. The seat is held by an incumbent running for re-election. Rep. Keith Self (R), first elected in 2022, was re-elected with 62.5% in 2024 under the old lines.

The nominees are Self and Evan Hunt (D). Hunt raised $702,786 through October 14, 2026.

On the new lines, the lean is Republican and it grew: Trump won the new district with 60.3% in 2024 (Cruz 57.7%), and reaggregation shows the seat moving from Trump +20.1 on the old lines to Trump +23.4 on the new lines in 2024 presidential vote. The race carries Solid R ratings.

Keith Self (Republican)

The record: Self is the incumbent, first elected in 2022. Before Congress he served three terms as Collin County Judge, after a 25-year Army career. In the House he serves on Foreign Affairs, per his official House biography as summarized in The Ballot Brief.

Pros: A proven incumbent with a long service record before Congress — 25 years in the Army and three terms running Collin County — and a second term in the House on Foreign Affairs.

Cons: The file located for this race is thin beyond biography and incumbency — no vote-by-vote file was assembled in the research for this long-tail district.

The flaw, plainly: There is no flaw documented in the file that outweighs incumbency here. Self asks voters to renew a record built over decades of military, county, and congressional service.

Evan Hunt (Democratic)

The record: Per his campaign biography as summarized in The Ballot Brief, Hunt is a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel with 20 years as a combat aviator, followed by executive roles in defense and aerospace; he lives in McKinney. He raised $702,786 through October 14, 2026. No prior elected office was located.

Pros: Two decades of combat aviation service and defense-industry executive experience — a serious biography, and fundraising that shows a real campaign in a difficult district.

Cons: No service record in elected office exists in which a break with his party toward our values could be documented. He is running against an incumbent in a district that moved to Trump +23.4 on the new lines.

The flaw, plainly: Hunt's military record is honorable and real. It is not a governing record, and it does not supply the cross-party break our exception requires — he asks a solidly Republican district to change parties on biography alone.

OUR CALL

LiberalMind endorses Keith Self.

A proven incumbent — Army, county judge, and Congress — against a challenger whose distinction is military and private-sector service, with no elected record and no documented break toward our values, in a district that got redder under the new map. The doctrine answers it directly.

This race is one of hundreds in LiberalMind's Election 2026 coverage. For the complete breakdown — every race, claim by claim — go to liberalmindhq.com.

Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Sources

Election result — November 4, 2026

Winner: Keith Alan Self (Republican) — called by the Associated Press. This result was appended on November 4, 2026 (results wave 1); the original article above is unchanged, exactly as published before Election Day.

AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.

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