Trump Nominates Wesley Hunt as U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia

President Donald Trump has nominated Republican Representative Wesley Hunt of Texas to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, a critical diplomatic post that has remained vacant since the start of Trump's second term. The nomination, announced on September 14, 2026, requires confirmation by the U.S. Senate, which faces a tight schedule before the November midterm elections. Hunt, a retired Army captain and former Apache helicopter pilot, is a second-term congressman representing the Houston area. He did not seek reelection to the House after launching an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate earlier this year. In the March 2026 Republican primary, Hunt finished third behind Senator John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who won the nomination. In a statement, Hunt called the nomination "the honor of a lifetime." He highlighted his prior service in the region, including two deployments to Saudi Arabia as a military diplomatic liaison officer.